Leeds Global Learning Awards
Co-op Academy Leeds are being celebrated for their work in providing a safe and welcoming environment for the academy’s asylum seekers and refugee students.
On 21 June, staff and students attended the annual Leeds Global Learning Awards, where they were presented with the Community Collaboration Award. The award celebrates the school's important work in supporting students and families to successfully integrate into the academy and wider community.
Over 10% of the school’s students are refugees and asylum-seekers, including families on the Syrian Resettlement Scheme, and students from countries including Eritrea, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Somalia, El Salvador and more.
Many of these students have faced significant trauma and a highly disrupted education (if any). Co-op Academy Leeds are working to encourage these students to take part in sport and extracurricular activities, with many participating in educational trips abroad to countries like Malta and Italy.
The school has also been collaborating with The University of Leeds on an art-based project involving migrant communities from East Africa, to help better understand and resolve communication difficulties faced by these communities.
In recognition of this work, Co-op Academy Leeds has also been awarded The School of Sanctuary Award - celebrating their diverse school and the successful integration of students from all backgrounds into the local community.
Jessica Field, Deputy Headteacher at Co-op Academy Leeds, said:
"We’re so proud to achieve these awards and for the work of our History team who were ‘Highly Commended’ for their efforts on decolonising the History curriculum. The department has, this year, undertaken a complete review of the curriculum in order to decolonise the content and reframe and refresh the histories studied within the academy.
This has involved the introduction of units on West African Empires and Gypsy Roma Traveller histories within the Key Stage 3 curriculum, as well as offering more diverse and balanced perspectives of imperial histories, such as slavery and the British Empire across the year groups.
This work is important to the academy in order to empower young people of the diverse communities which our academy serves. The work done by the history department will now be used to model other subjects and how they too can support this!"