The UK receives the largest number of asylum applications of any EU country. Last year just over 70,000 people asked to live, work and be educated here - an 11 per cent fall on 2000 and the first annual fall in five years. But in terms of asylum seekers per head of the population, the UK ranks 10th among European countries. Earlier this year, Home Secretary David Blunkett announced plans to take asylum seeking children out of mainstream education and teach them in accommodation centres - a move criticised by teacher unions and refugee charities. The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill, which should become law later this year, will also tighten rules governing refugees in the UK. How difficult is it to integrate these children into a busy school? And what can you do if you’re suddenly faced with the task?

Who are asylum seekers and refugees?

War, political or ethnic persecution and human rights abuse are all reasons for people seeking asylum in the UK. On arrival, they must lodge an official application for asylum - about 20 per cent of which involve families with school age children. In 2001, the Home Office had 3,469 applications from unaccompanied children - some smuggled into the UK by traffickers, some arriving with relatives and some coming alone. Unaccompanied asylum seekers are usually teenagers, but it is not unheard of for children under the age of 10 to be smuggled in.

A person’s status is in limbo during the long application process. But if the Government accepts that someone has a “well-founded” fear of persecution, the person is given refugee status under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. This grants indefinite leave to stay. Anyone with a good case for asylum, but denied full refugee status, will be granted “exceptional leave to remain”, usually for a year, after which a renewal is needed. After three years, the person can apply again. But 46 per cent of all applications are refused. There is a right of appeal but few succeed. Anyone refused permission to stay must leave the UK or face deportation.

Where do they come from?

Asylum seekers come from a remarkable range of countries; the list changes with international conditions. Last year, most came from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Some countries are those we hear of regularly because of war or upheaval - most unaccompanied children in 2001 came from Afghanistan. But the list includes more familiar European nations, such as the Czech Republic and Poland. And some of the countries - such as Kenya - are more commonly considered places to fly into on holiday than away from as a refugee.

And where do they go?

There are about 82,000 asylum seeking and refugee children in schools in Britain. They are concentrated in London and the South-east, with 68 per cent in greater London. They represent about 7 per cent of all London schoolchildren, and well over 10 per cent in boroughs such as Hackney and Islington. The Government’s plans include continuing moves towards “dispersal”, with efforts being made to encourage people to settle in the regions. But many refugee families want to be in the capital, often because they have relatives there. When they are placed elsewhere, they feel they are in a temporary situation. They don’t intend to stay, so they don’t put down roots in school - they don’t make friends and they don’t plug themselves into social networks. It also limits their commitment to exam preparation.

“Asylum seekers are dispersed to us here in the North-west,” says one head. “Then, when they get refugee status, they disperse themselves back to London pretty quickly.” But there are big refugee communities in Manchester and Glasgow, and cities such as Cardiff and Sheffield have large Somali populations. Size doesn’t always matter - smaller towns along the south coast such as Hastings and Margate are also popular settling places for refugees.

What are their rights?

Refugees have the same basic rights as all citizens and, once granted full refugee status, can bring to the UK any immediate family still overseas. Asylum seekers have restricted rights to work, housing and social welfare but full rights to health care and education, though the asylum bill will limit these entitlements. The 1996 Education Act places a duty on local authorities to provide a school place for all children between the ages of five and 16, and government guidelines encourage local education authorities to place asylum seekers in school within 20 days of their arrival. In practice, research by the Refugee Council suggests this can take several months. And even when the process works quickly, many asylum seekers are assigned to “unpopular” schools that have mid-term spare places.

“There’s an element of ghetto-isation,” says Jill Rutter, a lecturer in education at the University of North London. “The right to education may be upheld - but what about quality of education?”

After the age of 16, asylum seekers are entitled to study on scheduled courses at further education colleges, but accessing higher education is more difficult. They are classed as overseas students with no right to mandatory awards or student loans.

What support exists for a school taking asylum seekers or refugees?

The Department for Education and Skills encourages LEAs to develop support on a local basis and to offer in-service training for teachers new to working with asylum seekers. But provision varies greatly and if asylum seekers are uncommon in your area, you may find there is no specific policy in place.

Financial support can vary. First, there is the ordinary LEA funding that schools receive for every pupil. But asylum seekers often arrive without notice, in large numbers, at any point in the school year. If they arrive shortly after annual funding levels have been established, their schools will have to wait until the following year before receiving money for them. And if they arrive, then leave again between the census dates, it’s unlikely any funding will materialise for their time in school.

Second, there is funding from the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant. This year the DfES made pound;154 million available to provide support for schools working with pupils for whom English is not their first language. The money is distributed by LEAs, which assess each school’s needs - though again, a sudden influx of refugees can leave a school out of pocket.

Finally, schools outside greater London receive a one-off pound;500 payment for each dispersed asylum seeker or refugee, specifically to help provide induction language support. Individual schools often find organising this support difficult and time-consuming, so some LEAs - usually those with large numbers of refugees - provide this service centrally. In Manchester, schools pay their pound;500 back to the ethnic minorities achievement service in return for 50 hours of bilingual support drawing on a pool of specialist teachers offering a variety of languages. Under this scheme, for example, funding for 150 children amounts to the equivalent of four full-time support staff in school.

A warm welcome In many ways, refugees need to be treated in the same way as all new pupils - but it’s not just the school that’s new to them; it’s the country, language and culture. Research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council in 2000 found that the first few months in the UK were the most important in the adjustment process. And, unsurprisingly, school was highlighted as the crucial factor in determining the quality of these first experiences.

It’s important that schools have a basic induction policy. It may not only be the language that’s unfamiliar - some children find the relatively informal style of UK teaching difficult to adjust to, and elements such as laboratory practicals may be completely alien. Basic information will need translating for parents and carers. If you can, use an interpreter or bilingual classroom assistant to help out at meetings. Finding this kind of language support is not always easy - especially in smaller towns - but local refugee organisations and universities are a good starting point.

Ask parents about past schooling, and find out about receipt of benefits or asylum support vouchers (which will affect matters such as free school meals), and check dietary, religious and health care needs. If your LEA has a designated officer, make use of him or her during these early days - they will know who else to talk to. And, if possible, your head should have a specially trained member of staff assigned to work with refugee arrivals.

But your biggest asset may be other refugee children. At Burnage high school in Manchester, 150 of the school’s 950 pupils are refugees. Brian Dickens runs the refugee support programme there and uses the older hands to brief new pupils. “No one feels isolated or different,” he says. “We can choose the make-up of each class to ensure language support is on hand from other pupils who are already bilingual.”

Once settled, three quarters of refugee children say school is a positive part of their lives, according to a Save the Children survey published last week. Nearly half the 700 young refugees in Glasgow interviewed said school was the best thing about living in the UK, helping them make friends and learn English.

Won’t there be difficulties?

Refugee children are not necessarily “a problem”. Ofsted’s summary of good practice identifies a “can-do” attitude as the most important factor in getting things to run smoothly. But that’s not to deny that there may be difficulties - at least at first. Many asylum seekers arrive speaking little or no English, and dealing with this can seem the most urgent challenge; they may need additional help in the mainstream classroom or teaching in small groups until they master the basics.

But there may be other barriers. “These children stand out from the crowd - they can become a target for bullying and racism,” says Jill Rutter. “And many asylum seekers have had an interrupted education. They may feel frustrated and inadequate if they can’t already read and write.” Others may lack parental support for education or have a negative view of school - in some conflicts, schools are very much part of the war zone. But it’s a mistake to generalise. Many refugees have grown up in an environment where education is valued. They are often highly motivated pupils.

Working with the past Longer-term problems and disturbed behaviour are more likely if the asylum seeker is struggling to cope with bereavement and loss, or experiences of torture, rape or deprivation. Providing a welcoming environment, good homeschool liaison and language support will mitigate the effects of these but you may need to seek specialist support. Some LEAs have trained refugee counsellors.

What about academic integration?

If a refugee child speaks no English, accessing the curriculum will be a struggle. But there are ways to build confidence - non language-based activities such as PE and maths are good starting points, and allowing access to the internet can link young people to news and information in their own language. Another morale-booster is to allow older pupils to take a GCSE in their own language if a syllabus is available.

Out-of-hours community schools can supplement language or curriculum teaching. Almost 40 per cent of refugee children attend some kind of class outside school hours. While the general aim is to integrate a child into mainstream classes, sometimes common sense tells you otherwise - extra English lessons, for example, may be more beneficial than trying to learn French or German. After a couple of months, an academic review will throw up any specific needs that have become clear.

What about the league tables?

Pupils arriving in Years 5, 6, 10 or 11 of schooling are expected to sit national tests and public exams. But the results from pupils using English as an additional language can be excluded from school and LEA league tables for a two-year period unless the head chooses to include them.

But don’t assume an influx of asylum seekers will mean a plummeting rating. The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) found that 85 per cent of adult asylum seekers held qualifications, and 80 per cent had been employed in skilled trades or professions. So, many of the new pupils will come from high-achieving families.

Geoff Brookes, deputy head at Cefn Hengoed community school in Swansea, says the arrival of three Angolan refugees has contributed a lot to a school in an area with little ethnic diversity. “They’re the window on the world for the children here. It’s opened their eyes and their minds. It’s been an inspiration to them,” he says.

Will we still get asylum seekers if the Government plans go ahead?

The proposal to educate asylum seekers separately in accommodation centres has been criticised by teaching unions, charities such as Save the Children and the Refugee Council, and human rights groups. “Inclusivity is important,” says Gill Stainthorpe of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. “The money would be better spent on encouraging dispersal and helping to provide support in mainstream schools.”

But even if the proposals go ahead, schools are still likely to receive asylum seekers whose cases have not been decided after six months. And there will always be refugees who have successfully completed the process moving out from the centres into local communities around Britain.

A rich history Refugees are not a new phenomenon. Between 1935 and 1950, more than 250,000 Eastern Europeans came to Britain to escape Nazi persecution or war. Thousands more came during periods of Soviet invasion in the 50s and 60s. The 1970s saw the arrival of Chileans (victims of a military coup), Ugandan Asians (expelled by President Idi Amin) and Vietnamese.

In the 1980s, about 20,000 Iranians, mainly students, and 1,500 Poles were granted leave to remain because of situations in their home countries. And many Tamil, Ghanaian, Ugandan and Somali asylum seekers have arrived independently - during two months in 1989 more than 3,000 Kurds came to seek asylum.

DID YOU KNOW?

* Sixty-eight per cent of the 82,000 asylum-seeking and refugee children in British schools are in greater London, representing about 7 per cent of the capital’s schoolchildren

* In 2001, the Home Office recorded 3,469 applications for asylum from unaccompanied children. Most came from Afghanistan

* Forty-six per cent of all applications for asylum are refused

* Government guidelines encourage local education authorities to place asylum seekers in school within 20 days of their arrival. In practice, this can take several months

* The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) found that 85 per cent of adult asylum seekers held qualifications, and 80 per cent had been employed in skilled trades or professions

* Nearly half of refugee children say school is the best thing about living in the UK, a recent study found