We are delighted to announce Ireland’s first Champion Special School of Sanctuary, Gorey Hill Special School. Many congratulations and a big welcome to the Champion Schools community, Aileen, Kerrie and all the staff and students. Special congratulations to the amazing students of the school who have courageously stepped up as sanctuary ambassadors, welcoming visitors, putting on a flag parade and talking to our team as we visited their lovely classrooms. Thanks also to neighbouring Gorey champion schools Creagh College and Bunscoil Loreto for all the support and encouragement from teachers and students.
Gorey Hill Special School opened in late 2024, a new Special School catering for 37 students aged 4 to 18 with moderate to severe learning needs. Right from the start, the school has welcomed families from many nations and language groups, and their enthusiasm about Schools of Sanctuary has been helped by the community of Schools of Sanctuary in County Wexford and WWETB as well as the schools on their own Gorey Hill compound. It was also very special that Frederick Kutlwano, 6th year Sanctuary Ambassador from Selskar College, was one of the ambassadors in attendance, especially as his little brother is a student at Gorey Hill. With parents from many nations and three other local schools visiting, the International Day on April 28th was a real community celebration of welcome, inclusion, kindness and goodness.
The groundwork for this deeply moving celebration has gone on for over a year. The sense of community with other Schools of Sanctuary has been a real distinctive; there have been exchange visits with Bunscoil Loreto and Creagh College, the Champion Schools of Gorey, as well as shared artwork projects. Gorey Hill campus includes Irish language school, Gaelscoil Moshíolog and pre-school Naíonra na Síolta Óga, and both are working with Gorey Hill to become a ‘campus of sanctuary’. It has been really touching to witness the interaction between the various schools, representing so many languages, cultures, ages, backgrounds, ability and needs, and to see the children learning so much from each other. Gorey Hill students decided to symbolise ‘sanctuary’ by constructing boxes for nesting birds, and a few students volunteered to visit other schools to deliver the boxes and bird feeders. It is always a privilege to go into this special school and invariably, we come out with so much we have learned from the young people and their teachers and parents.
Gorey Hill would be delighted to share their learning with any interested school.
COMMENTS BY TEACHERS AND MONITORING TEAM
I wanted to extend our sincere thanks as we mark the milestone of becoming Ireland’s first Champion Special School of Sanctuary. We feel deeply honoured to be part of the ideals and message that Schools of Sanctuary represents. The commitment to welcome, inclusion, and belonging resonates strongly with our values, and it is something we are proud to embed in our daily work with our students and families.
Today was an extraordinary day, filled with warmth, joy, and a genuine sense of community. It gave us the opportunity to showcase the incredible work, dedication, and care demonstrated every day by our staff, students, and the wider team here in Gorey Hill.
When Tiffy first visited Gorey Hill last year, we were newly opened, and we didn’t plan on taking on many initiatives but it was immediately clear to us that Schools of Sanctuary was a natural fit. The core message of welcome, inclusion, and belonging is exactly what we were striving to nurture across our whole school environment and culture and I think we have created that message clearly to our staff, students and parents.
Schools of Sanctuary aligns very closely with the ethos and model of our school and indeed with special schools more broadly. We are genuinely delighted to have the opportunity to showcase just how special our school community is.
Kerrie Wickham, Principal, Gorey Hill
It was a great honour to be present at the Gorey Hill School , School of Sanctuary award celebrations. The feeling of welcome and inclusion from both Staff and Students was quite remarkable and serves as a bench mark for us all in the future. We look forward to future collaboration and adventures. Ruairi Ó Broin, Teacher, Creagh College
I was incredibly touched on the day with the feeling of warmth, celebration and community during our Schools of Sanctuary Celebration day. I was blown away by the commitment of the whole staff team in the School of Sanctuary journey. Our multi-cultural event looked incredible with everyone going above and beyond to decorate the school and create the sense of celebration that it was. As a school leader I was incredibly proud to present and showcase our wonderful school and staff spirit alongside our Schools of Sanctuary activities.
A standout moment during our showcase / informal speeches was when I looked around the room and noticed such a feeling of belonging in our local school community -parents/guardians/grandparents, student councils from our neighbouring schools, staff and colleagues in the Sanctuary Network. I was incredibly proud our Sanctuary Ambassadors got such well deserved recognition with their certificates, to celebrate their achievements in front of this community and to see how proud they were of themselves. It was fantastic to see how confident two of our Sanctuary Ambassadors have grown to be, when they were welcoming our guests into the school and into their classroom. The monitoring team responded with warmth and joy and it was beautiful to be a part of it.
Aileen Roche, Deputy Principal, Gorey Hill
I’d like to mention that from day 1 at Gorey Hill School there has been a culture of welcoming & inclusion/acceptance for everyone (students and staff alike). This culture has continued to grow since then. Many substitute staff often comment on the positive atmosphere that exists in the school & several parents have also said the same to me.
We are very lucky to have our EAL teacher, Inna. Her translation skills have been invaluable in helping to translate for some of our students for whom English is a new spoken language.
I genuinely regard our school community as being like an extended family. In our short time together we’ve celebrated & grieved together, supporting each other along the way.
Tuesday’s event was such a pleasure to be part of. I was so proud of all of our students who took part in or simply experienced the various elements of the day. Their reactions and responses spoke volumes!
Patrick Cashman, Teacher, Gorey Hill
It was such an honour to be on the monitoring team and to see all the amazing work you are doing. What a welcome we all received! From the moment we stepped through the door, we were greeted with such warmth. It truly was a beautiful celebration and myself and colleagues and students from the sanctuary committee were very proud to be part of the celebrations.
Paula Quinn, Teacher, Bunscoil Loreto
It was so special to be there at Gorey Hill, to meet so many of the schoolchildren and parents from many different lands, and to see how well settled each child is in this amazing environment. We are so happy to be part of the wider Schools of Sanctuary community!
Kutlwano Frederick, Sanctuary Ambassador leader, Selskar College
It was a beautiful celebration of community, inclusion and togetherness and I feel very lucky to have experienced it in person. Thank you!
Olga Rai, Sanctuary Ambassador Coordinator
