Mount Sion CBS Secondary School in Waterford has become the first school in the Republic of Ireland to be awarded the status of School of Sanctuary.
The school was assessed by a team from Places of Sanctuary Ireland (PoSI), which includes people active in refugee support work, refugees and asylum seekers.
They classed Mount Sion as “outstanding” for its activities for welcoming and including young people from a refugee or asylum-seeking background.
PoSI is an all-Ireland network of groups who work to promote a culture of welcome and inclusiveness across every sector of society, so that people seeking sanctuary in Ireland will feel safe and equal, and have opportunities to be involved in all community activities.
PoSI team leader Andy Pollak, a former Irish Times education and religious affairs correspondent, said:
“Mount Sion CBS is a model for other schools in its outstanding portfolio of
work to welcome and support the young men and boys from 37 different nationalities who are students in its school. We were enormously impressed by the wide range of initiatives: providing multilingual and multicultural flags, signs, booklets and graphics throughout the school; 'own language' tours for students and parents; celebrating religious festivals from the various countries, setting up a 'sanctuary room for reflection, counselling and discussion; inviting asylum seekers in to give talks; students making videos of their sanctuary activities and sharing these activities with other schools.
"Last year the school made a highly regarded presentation on its sanctuary work to hundreds of students and their teachers at the Edmund Rice Schools Trust annual student conference in Croke Park. Through this wide range of welcoming activities, Mount Sion is providing a shining example to other Irish schools by offering refuge to those many young people who need it and equipping its students with intercultural skills and the ability to have compassion in what is, for many, a turbulent world”, said Mr Pollak.
Narrell Byrne, EAL Coordinator, who is leading the initiative, said:
“Mount Sion CBS is very proud to be recognised as Ireland’s first School of Sanctuary. Our uniform brings a very diverse student body together on the same journey. We are one, but we are many. We pledged to create a school culture where every student feels safe and accepted; a school where cultural diversity is valued and celebrated. Schools of Sanctuary helped us make this vision a reality”
WLR's Damien Tiernan visited the school and spoke to some of the pupils and teachers - watch his report here:
