Dunamase College School of Sanctuary Portfolio

What is a School of Sanctuary?

A School of Sanctuary is a safe and welcoming place for all, especially refugees and asylum seekers. It promotes inclusion and diversity in education. The three core principles of a School of Sanctuary are:

Learn
Action
Share

Who are we?

Since its establishment in 2017 our school has grown rapidly and continues to be on a path of rapid development. It is a vibrant, dynamic school. We offer an energetic and enthusiastic learning environment where difference and diversity are valued and respected.
We are a multidenominational, co-educational school, socially and culturally inclusive.
We place a strong focus on student well-being and the need for respect for all members of the community and the environment which surrounds us. Every student in Dunamase College is cared for equally recognising the students uniqueness, religious beliefs and cultures.
Our school is committed to making it a safe and welcoming place for anyone seeking sanctuary. We consciously help students, staff and the wider community to understand what it means to be seeking sanctuary.
At Dunamase College we pride ourselves in upholding the five core values of the ETBI (in particular Laois and Offaly ETB). These core values are: Excellence in Education, Community, Care, Respect and Equality. These core values are embedded in everyday life within our school and how we interact with each other.

Our School of Sanctuary Committee

Our School of Sanctuary was established in 2020 by teacher Jenny Cooper. As a school we knew that we were doing a lot for the inclusion and diversity of all school members and had decided that it would be nice to be recognised for all the hard work that was being put in.

Our student School of Sanctuary members are known as Sanctuary Ambassadors.

In 2022/2023 we joined together three committees in the school: School of Sanctuary Committee, School of Belonging Committee and Ethos Committee to form a new committee which we named Le Chéile.

Le Chéile means "Together" and this encompasses the vision of all three committees in the school.

In the beginning of the 2023/2024 school year our school held an extra curricular sign up and this allowed us to speak to students and get more ambassadors on board.

We now have 29 members on our Le Chéile committee.

Meet our Le Chéile Committee

Student Ambassadors

Teacher Coordinators

Abbie Heaney
Abigail Gleeson
Áine Maciulis
Amelia Kalich
Angela Babikanga
Ayabonga Henry Ncube
Brianna Hayes
Caoimhe Fitzpatrick
Cillian O Callaghan
Felicia Babikanga
Francesca Boldescu
Pola Halassa
Izzie Sharpe

Jessica Boldescu
Jessica Delaney
Lexi Ní Neighill
Lucy Doyle
Miriam Kuska
Noelle Joseph
OJ Lawless
Samantha McPhail
Saskia Van Amersfoorth
Sheron Conkova
Sophie McDonagh
Tara O Dwyer
Zuzanna Bock
Zuzanna Oberstedt

Siobhán Holland (School of Sanctuary)
Lauren Harding (Ethos)
Ciara Dunne (School of Belonging)
Jenny Cooper (School of Sanctuary)

Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board

Dunamase College Coláiste Dhún Másc is one of nine schools in LOETB. We are co-educational and multi-denominational, committed to our ETB School Core Values of Excellence in Education, Care, Equality, Community and Respect. The core values of LOETB are inline with the core values of a School of Sanctuary to include Welcome, Safety and Inclusion.

Five Core Values of ETB

Dunamase College Core Value recipient 2023, 2nd year student Chloe McCormack

Three Principles of a School of Sanctuary

Principle 1: Learn
We started by learning about refugees and hearing their stories, why people are forced to flee their countries, and the issues, and challenges people are facing in Ireland. We learn about the cultures, traditions, food, and languages of people who have come to our community.
We learn about world religions in our religion classes.

Principle 2: Take Action
We made an action plan for our school to ensure it was an inclusive and welcoming sanctuary for all our school members.

Principle 3: Share
We share all that we do in our school on our social media pages: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and our school website. Local media also publish different events that happen in the school.