Schools recognised for peace work
'Greystones Primary School, Sheffield, and Bacon’s College, Southwark, London, were joint winners of the Peer Mediation Scheme of the Year Award.'
School mediators trained by a Quaker-rooted charity were recognised for their work in resolving conflicts at the National Mediation Awards in Parliament this month.
Greystones Primary School, Sheffield, and Bacon’s College, Southwark, London, were joint winners of the Peer Mediation Scheme of the Year Award, presented by BBC newsreader Joanna Gosling.
Greystones has been involved with peer mediation for twenty-five years, originally as part of a pilot project which led to the formation, by local Quakers, of CRESST, the Sheffield-based conflict resolution charity. CRESST supports the school by training peer mediators.
Like many schools, Greystones and Bacon’s include pupils from conflict zones with 10,000 Ukrainian refugee children currently attending British schools, along with 5,400 from Afghanistan.
Schools with peer mediation say it gives pupils more confidence and better communication skills, as well as creating a more peaceful environment.
Headteacher Chris Jennings said the training helps the pupils ‘deal with some of the complex situations and demands of the world that they’re moving into’.
The award was one of sixteen presented at the event on 8 December, organised by the Civil Mediation Council, Family Mediation Council and College of Mediators.
