College of Sanctuary
D
ecember has been a busy month of celebrations as we held three events to mark College of Sanctuary month.
Schools & Colleges of Sanctuary is an initiative from Bristol City of Sanctuary, which aims to foster positive attitudes within schools, colleges and their communities around people seeking sanctuary, and support schools and colleges to take positive steps towards being places of safety and inclusion for all. First, we held a College of Sanctuary breakfast on 3 December at Ashley Down Centre, where we welcomed community leaders and representatives from charitable organisations to discuss initiatives happening across Bristol to foster an inclusive environment for all. Local councillor Ruth Pickersgill gave a talk about the importance of City and College of Sanctuary statuses, while City of Bristol College’s Cathy Bowstead and Carolyn Nye spoke about what we do to support these initiatives within the College.
Finally, it was over to our fantastic hospitality and catering tutors and students on 13 December for a special College of Sanctuary lunch at our City Restaurant. We welcomed 30 of our ESOL students, both past and present, and representatives from Off the Record, Bristol Refugee Festival and Borderlands. One of our lunch guests, Mustafa, said: “I just would like to thank you for the wonderful lunch celebration which took place yesterday. It meant a lot to me. I cannot explain how proud I am to be here within this great society and wonderful people. Thanks to everyone who attended and to the great students who cooked this delicious food.” You can find out more about our College of Sanctuary status here.
Next, we were honoured to welcome Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees to College Green on 9 December to officially receive our College of Sanctuary award. Being an accredited College of Sanctuary means we are committed to being a safe and welcoming place for people whose lives were in danger in their own country. We are proud to help our students, staff and wider community to understand what it means to be seeking sanctuary, and to extend a welcome to everyone as equal, valued members of our college community.
Meet the College of Sanctuary Steering Group Cathy Bowstead
Carolyn Nye
Time at college: 27 years Brief description of your role with the CoS: Contributed to re-accreditation of College of Sanctuary. CoBC lead for planning the CoS month & lead for continuing CoS activities/raising internal and external awareness. Interesting fact about yourself: I represented CoBC on two educational trips to Tanzania, these trips were life changing!
Time at college: 20 years Brief description of your role with the CoS: Supporting students and staff to get involved to celebrate our diverse student body, to support refugee causes and to raise the profile of our college as a College of Sanctuary. Interesting fact about yourself: I lived in Cambodia for four years with my two young daughters.
Director of Foundation Learning & Skills
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Head of Department - ESOL
