The national curriculum is clear on the need to plan for the diverse learning needs of pupils from all social and cultural backgrounds, including refugees and asylum seekers: 'When planning, teachers should set high expectations and provide opportunities for all pupils to achieve, including...pupils from all social and cultural backgrounds, pupils of different ethnic groups including travellers, refugees and asylum seekers, and those from diverse linguistic backgrounds.'

Schools who host refugee and asylum-seeking pupils face certain challenges. The 'asylum seekers and refugees' area of this site has further information about the background and experiences of these pupils.

The pupils may arrive during the school year and have to move again after a short time. They will have diverse backgrounds and needs, which will often include being new to schooling in the UK and needing to learn English. The 'English as an additional language' area of the site has information and guidance on this.

Refugee families may also have complex needs related to immigration, housing and health that can also impact on their children’s well-being and progress. The 'Rights and entitlements' area of the site has information and guidance on responding to these needs.

Ofsted and DCSF guidance

The education of asylum-seeker pupils (Ofsted, 2003) identifies steps taken by the schools surveyed to raise the achievement of asylum-seeking pupils.

The report stresses how asylum-seeking pupils and their parents often have high expectations of school. Parents themselves are supportive of schools and teachers, and their children can be highly motivated to learn and make progress.

Schools were deemed effective when there was:

• a leadership and management team who reinforced a whole-school commitment to inclusion and race equality and were positive about the arrival of asylum-seeking pupils
• clear and effective admission and induction arrangements. The 'Admission procedures' area of this site provides guidance on this
• good background information on the linguistic, educational and cultural needs of asylum-seeking pupils
• effective initial assessment with class placements carefully considered. The 'Initial assessment' area of the site has guidance on this
• communication with parents as an integral part of welcome and induction with information provided on the education system and entitlements such as free school meals. The 'Whole school issues' area of this site includes information on admission and induction, admission procedures and interpreting and translation.
• a range of teaching strategies and resources that supported asylum-seeking pupils’ understanding. The 'Teaching and learning' area of the site explores how some schools have developed a range of effective strategies that enable new arrivals to participate fully in the educational opportunities provided and make the best possible progress both academically and socially
• effective use of support staff, including mentors, assistants and home/school liaison. The 'Induction mentoring' area of this site provides ways of extending this support to new arrivals
• effective use of EMAG staff in admission, targeted support, teaching, family liaison and staff training. The 'English as an additional language' area of this site focuses on EAL in the context of new arrivals
• the use of assemblies, festivals and focused events such as Refugee Week to enhance awareness
• peer support. The 'Peer support' area of this site provides guidance on extending peer support to new arrivals
• provision for extracurricular activities and family learning. The 'Family learning' area of this site provides information and guidance on providing opportunities for family learning to new arrivals and their families.

Local authorities were effective when they:

• prioritised access to education for newly arrived pupils
• supported the provision of interpretation and translation
• provided coordination of work to support asylum-seeking pupils
• provided guidance to schools
• provided access to appropriate resources
• supported bilingual assessment of pupils' language needs
• supported home/school links
• provided training and good practice information
• provided training to suitably qualified staff from refugee communities
• ensured provision was an integral part of their education development plan and race equality work
• promoted inter-agency working.

The DCSF guidance Aiming high: Guidance on supporting the education of asylum-seeking and refugee children (2004) contains further information.

Case study

Refugee and asylum seekers information booklet and directory for schools

Newcastle City Council LA's Ethnic Minority Traveller and Refugee Achievement service produces a booklet for schools. It gives comprehensive information, policy and practical guidance to schools. It illustrates good practice in providing information for a local area.

Useful weblinks

Please note: QCA is not responsible for the content of external sites

DCSF: Aiming high: guidance on supporting the education of asylum-seeking and refugee children
This good practice guide (2004) has been produced to support teachers in their work with asylum-seeking and refugee children and contains information ranging from the role of LEAs through to advice on supporting individual communities.

National Union of Teachers: Relearning to learn
This publication (2002) was produced as part of the National Union of Teachers' professional development programme. The booklet offers advice to teachers new to teaching children from refugee and asylum-seeking families.

Ofsted: The education of asylum-seeker pupils
Ofsted report (2003) on their evaluation of the impact on schools of the arrival of asylum-seeking pupils. Ofsted Inspectors visited 37 schools in 11 different local education authorities.

Further resources

Home from home: A guidance and resource pack for the welcome and inclusion of refugee children and families, Salusbury WORLD/Save the Children, 2004

Home from home is a resource pack that provides guidance for the successful inclusion of refugee children and families into school. The materials have come from the experience of staff at Salusbury WORLD, an innovative refugee project based at Salusbury Primary School.

The effective practice described in this pack will be relevant to anyone who works in the primary or secondary sector: teachers and teaching assistants, learning mentors, home/school liaison workers, educational psychologists and others.

The pack is divided into clearly signposted sections for quick and easy reference. It includes a section on involving parents, including guidance and extensive links to information on family learning. An order form can be downloaded from the Salusbury WORLD website.

[Back to top]