SCOIL BHRIDE – SANCTUARY FOR UKRAINIAN CHILDREN
Scoil Bhride is a school located on the Westside of Galway city. We are very proud to be a School of Sanctuary. Our school moto is ‘We Care’ and we are determined to live up to this.
When the crisis began in the Ukraine earlier this year our children and staff were eager to help. We felt as a school community that we had a lot to offer anyone seeking sanctuary because of all the School of Sanctuary programme has taught us.
The children were proactive in coming up with suggestions on how our school community could help. Some of our 6th class students organised a bake sale in aid of the Ukraine. On the same day our school took in donations of non-perishable goods which were shipped to Ukraine.
In April we were privileged to be the first Primary school in Galway to welcome a child from the Ukraine since the start of the conflict. She was warmly welcomed all our school community. TG4 did a segment in our school where they interviewed our new arrival and members of our school community.
Anticipating more new arrivals some of our students foresaw the importance of having SOS Ambassadors ready to help with transitioning to our school. Three of our ambassadors Onome, Alan and Artur produced a welcome booklet with information about our school while others prepared to give school tours to parents and children. Some of our SOS Ambassadors were able to help with translating. When new children arrived, our ambassadors played a vital role in helping them adapt to their new school. This was particularly evident on the 2nd of May when over 30 Ukrainian children arrived in our school. We were extremely proud of how our SOS team seamlessly worked to welcome the new children. As a staff we set up a committee to help our new children.
Scoil Bhride continues to strive to help any child seeking sanctuary. We are prepared to evolve and adapt where necessary.
Here you can find the Nuacht TG4 link and an updated version of our welcome booklet.