We suggest taking at least a whole year to work towards becoming an FE College of Sanctuary. This will help ensure this is a reflective, intentional and collaborative process and the Sanctuary values are wholly understood and embedded.
STEP ONE – Sign the organisational pledge, committing the college to acknowledge and support the CoS charter & organisational values and upholding our vision of welcome and belonging in the UK. This takes less than two minutes and is one of the minimum criteria.
Please note that if you represent an Education Group or consortium of colleges, we expect each college to sign the pledge in order to be recognised.
Share your pledge and announce your intention to your wider college community.
STEP TWO – You will be contacted by the FE Colleges of Sanctuary Lead to learn about possible timeframes for your award, next steps and details of the support we can offer. Please note that with limited capacity we are only able to manage one cohort of applications per year – this process begins at the start of every academic year.
If you miss an application cohort, we encourage you to engage with the network in the meantime by attending our events, using the newsletter and connecting with other colleges in the network – this will strengthen your application when the time comes.
STEP THREE – Read and review the College of Sanctuary resource pack, noting the the minimum criteria and the Colleges of Sanctuary website for ideas and inspiration. Establish working group of staff members across college departments and undertake an audit of what the college has done to date to meet the award minimum criteria and identify areas to develop.
Organise workshops with students seeking sanctuary and ESOL students to centre their voices, feedback and contributions in this process. Ensure they understand what you are hoping to achieve with the FE College of Sanctuary award and ask them for their thoughts about how you can make it easier for students seeking sanctuary to enroll in your college and thrive when enrolled. Ask them what they think staff and wider students should know about people seeking sanctuary to be understanding and see how they want to get involved with driving this process forward.
We also advise consulting local refugee organisations to learn about barriers to accessing further education for people seeking sanctuary and look at ways you can help overcome them.
Drawing on these reviews and consultations, create an action plan to fulfil outstanding criteria and improve provision and practice. Link this to the college development plan and other college policies and structures to ensure this is a sustained and intentional effort.
Make sure to sign up to the FE College of Sanctuary Newsletter to keep posted about news, the latest resources and trainings and more.
STEP FOUR – Develop an application form that clearly states how you have fulfilled the the award minimum criteria, how you have co-produced this process with people seeking safety and identifying areas for ongoing development. This should be accompanied with an evidence portfolio/ folder supporting your application and might include photos, newsletters, students’ work, emails, policies and more. Please note applications should be no more than 12 pages long per college.
Discuss with the FE College of Sanctuary Lead about a realistic and convenient application submission deadline plenty of time in advance. When ready, submit your application to your Lead/contact who will arrange for a panel to review your application and share some feedback. This will be followed by an appraisal meeting. Please note that the appraisal team typically includes people from local refugee organisations, people with lived experience and/or others working within this space and is intended to understand local perspectives of your colleges support to people seeking safety.
Make sure City of Sanctuary UK is set up as a supplier to enable the transfer of the accreditation fee upon being informed about a successful award. Contact the Finance Officer for details on how to transfer this fee.
STEP FIVE – Once informed about your successful award, transfer the award fee. As soon as this has been received you can announce your award and plan a celebration in collaboration with your local group and/or Lead. Make sure to share your achievements on social media and on the college website and reach out to local press. Continue to implement your sanctuary efforts and develop a plan for re-appraisal in three years.
Application Deadlines
The 2024/25 application cohort has already begun and the next opportunity to work towards the award will be in the 2025/25 academic year. Unfortunately, due to very limited capacity we are unable to accept applications outside the outlined timeframes. Make sure to sign up to the newsletter and sign the supporting organisation pledge to be notified about future application opportunities.