Swindon school awarded by City of Sanctuary UK

A "welcoming committee" meets any new pupils and helps them make friends

National recognition has been given to a primary school for being welcoming and inclusive to displaced people.

Peatmoor Community Primary is the first school in Swindon to receive a School of Sanctuary award.

It is awarded by the charity, City of Sanctuary UK, which helps communities to make their schools, theatres and libraries safe places for people who have had to flee their home.

Ten-year-old pupil Kal said: "Nobody feels left out, they're not alone".

LISTEN: Kal tells BBC Radio Wiltshire that it's more than just an award

Kal, from Swindon, is part of the school's "welcoming committee" and said anyone arriving at the school has the option to stand up and tell a school assembly all about themselves.

"They say what their name is and then we go outside and we just make friends, because in our school that's what we do," he said.

'We are one'

The award is about welcoming people from all walks of life, wherever they are from or whatever they have been through.

Teaching assistant, Sarah Williams, has been involved with the school's efforts and said there has been a "buzz" about winning the award.

"I think having external people come in to show that it is a big deal, especially being the first school in Swindon to be nationally recognised, that needs celebrating," she said.

"All the staff involved have had training. It's something that isn't standalone and is thoroughly embedded within the school."

Headteacher Libby Matthews added: "We all benefit from each other, we've got children here from all over the world, and we celebrate that massively, and we've got children from all over Swindon and together we are one, we are Peatmoor Community Primary School."

Cristina Bennett and Kate Hudson from Swindon City of Sanctuary visit the schools to evaluate their eforts

Cristina Bennett and Kate Hudson, from City of Sanctuary, lead the schools project in the town.

Mrs Hudson said: "Our visits around the school have been both exciting and illuminating.

"They're the most wonderful, articulate, enthusiastic children that you could ever meet."

The team visits schools hoping to join the UK's Schools of Sanctuary Network, which Mrs Hudson said "is not an easy thing" to do.

She added: "You have to go through a lot of checking and evaluating of what they're doing in terms of welcoming young students and so we're so proud to say now that we've got our first School of Sanctuary."

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