Schools in the UK are welcoming many more refugee and asylum-seeking children than before, including new arrivals from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria and Hong Kong.
These children live with the trauma of fleeing their homes, with the uncertainties of resettlement, and must take on learning in a new school system and in a new language.
Research conducted for UNICEF shows that refugee children’s previous experiences and reasons for fleeing their homes can affect their wellbeing and education in the UK.
As such, many schools are looking for guidance and information on how best to support displaced children and how to use any funding that may have been made available.
To help provide that guidance, The Bell Foundation - in consultation with leading refugee education specialists, local authority representatives and practitioners - has developed and launched a set of recommendations informed by best practices in schools that have been welcoming and including new arrivals for many years.
1. Invest in human resources and training for all staff
Appointing key staff, investing in their training and allocating time for planning, preparation and assessment will translate into sustainable provision for new arrivals.
There are three effective strategies leaders can follow:
- Invest in training to equip leaders to lead on embedding a whole-school approach to inclusive education and English as an additional language (EAL) provision, in which multilingualism is celebrated.
- Appoint an EAL coordinator, who can lead on planning and support other staff. Investing in this role and allocating time for the coordinator’s work will have far-reaching benefits for the school, not only for children from refugee backgrounds but for all EAL learners.
- Where possible, appoint new personnel - and/or allocate roles to existing staff who have the expertise - to provide ongoing academic support and pastoral care for new arrivals.
Wherever possible, appoint multilingual staff: their language assets will be invaluable in your school’s work with learners and their families.
2. Create a welcoming school environment
First, you should consider how best to signal that your school is a welcoming place.
This can be done by reviewing the messages on your website, making sure your reception area is calm and organised, and placing clear signage around your school in languages the new learners know.
Furthermore, for secondary learners especially, create a designated space where they can relax, network with others who speak their language, and access information and pastoral care with a designated adult.
You can also designate a team, led by the EAL coordinator, that plans and manages all aspects of the school day for each new arrival, and that identifies empathetic peers who can provide friendship and information and, ideally, who share a language and similar experiences of displacement.
3. Build holistic learning and pastoral support plans for each child
Children who are refugees or seeking asylum bring with them rich linguistic resources, life and learning experience, and, in many cases, curriculum knowledge.
Furthermore, school heads have told us that refugee and asylum-seeking children contribute positively to the school community by helping to build vibrant diverse spaces, with all the benefits they bring.
Assessing, recording and sharing those assets with your staff will help them plan language support so that new arrivals can be included in mainstream classes, as soon as possible after they start at your school.
To help you draw up those plans, construct a learner profile with the learner and their family or caregivers, with information about:
- The learner’s educational background
- The languages they use
- The literacy resources they have in all the languages they know
Alongside language support for learning is the pressing need for pastoral care. Displaced children need a committed, caring adult in the school who can be available when they need help.
To help you assess the impact of trauma on behaviour and learning, appoint trained staff to obtain information that you can base appropriate support strategies on.
Refugee Education UK and Refugee Youth Service provide helpful training in this area.
4. Support families to support their children
We know that all children’s success at school rests in part on the support they receive from their families.
There are simple strategies that you can use to make your school a welcoming space for families where they are informed, heard, included and represented.
Provide information about how the English school system works, what the expectations are at your school, and subject choice for secondary learners. Use translators and teachers who use languages that the families know to facilitate clear communication.
5. Access resources and support beyond your school
There is a wealth of expertise in national organisations across the country, such as City of Sanctuary, Refugee Education UK, the Refugee Council and the national subject association for ELA, Naldic.
For added support, connect with your local authority and refugee charities in your area to access training and other resources that are appropriate in your context. The Bell Foundation’s guidance lists training provided by the Chartered College of Teaching, Refugee Education UK and the Refugee Youth Service.
For any child arriving in a new country, fleeing war or government oppression and wanting to feel safe, school plays a vital role in that readjustment - and for families, too.
Schools have always worked hard to create those safe spaces and we hope our guidance will play a key role in building on those achievements.
Glynis Lloyd is a trainer with The Bell Foundation
