Supporting access and enrolment to school

Refugee children and families may experience barriers to accessing schooling. They may arrive in a local area where they have no friends, family or members of their community. Many refugee families are unfamiliar with the English school system. Families may also lack information about local schools, enrolment and the primary school curriculum. Some schools may be unsure about refugee children’s entitlements or how to meet their needs.

Children from refugee backgrounds have the same entitlement to education as all other children. Local Authorities (LAs) have a legal duty to ensure that education is available for all children of compulsory school age appropriate to age, ability and aptitudes and any Special Educational Needs (SEN) they may have. This duty applies irrespective of a child's immigration status or rights of residence.

Good practice

Refugee children and families will benefit when schools and other local services are aware of their entitlements, and work together to promote access to schooling.

Refugee children’s entitlement to education

Ensure practitioners are aware of refugee children’s entitlement. They will find information on the Refugee and asylum seekers’ children area of the teachernet and the QCA Pathways to learning for new arrivals website.

School clothing grants, meals and free school travel and transport

Schools can help families apply for financial support.

The DCSF parentscentre website provides information on eligibility for:

free school meals

school uniforms

school travel and transport.

Make use of interpreters

Interpreters can support good communication between schools and refugee families. Guidance can be found on the Interpreting and translation area of the QCA Pathways to learning for new arrivals website. Many local authorities provide interpreting and translation services.

Provide information in community languages

Some LAs and schools ensure that information about the school and the curriculum is available in different languages. For example, the Dingle Granby Toxteth education action zone (EAZ) in Liverpool provided translated letters for schools. The EAZ sample letters can be found on the Primary Resources website. Users are able to customise common letters from school to home in 30 different languages.

Create a friendly and welcoming environment

School office staff will have a particularly important role to play in ensuring refugee families are made to feel welcome. School reception and parent meeting areas can provide displays that celebrate a school’s linguistic and cultural diversity. A personalised ‘Welcome to…’ poster is an approach some schools use. MantraLingua produce welcome posters in different languages. Teachers can prepare for new children by making sure equipment and learning groups are prepared and inclusion in learning activities planned. Preparing for inclusion: a checklist for staff (.doc) is available on the Pupil Mobility area of the Islington Ethnic Minority Achievement Service website . This serves as an aide memoire for teachers and support staff preparing for a new arrival.

New Arrivals Excellence Programme: Primary and Secondary National Strategies (NAEP)

NAEP website

The website offers guidance, provides answers to frequently asked questions and provides links to other useful websites. The guidance can be downloaded from the website. 

This document for primary and secondary schools aims to support schools in developing their provision for newly arrived pupils; whole school planning, welcoming, initial assessments, teaching and learning strategies and promoting children’s participation.

• Initial information sharing
• Planning for the new arrivals
• Early communication with children new to English
• Buddies and designated adults
• Creating a welcoming environment

New Arrivals Excellence Programme: DVD and case studies - a resource to support the development of induction procedures for new arrivals. The DVD is available on request.

Establish clear admission procedures

This can ensure that information about a child’s background experiences, health and development is gathered quickly and shared with practitioners. Class friends or ‘buddies’ need to be allocated to new arrivals to help with school routines and to provide the opportunity for company during break and lunchtimes. The peer support and friendships area of this site provides more information about this. Detailed guidance on developing Effective admission procedures can be found on the QCA Pathways to learning for new arrivals website.

Liaise promptly with a child’s new school if they move

Refugee children frequently move house and change schools in their first few months in the UK. Passing on records promptly can help maintain continuity in learning. The section on exit procedures in DfES Managing Pupil Mobility: A handbook for induction mentors (.PDF) provides guidance on supporting children when they leave schools.

Provide advocacy and additional support

Some refugee families will have difficulty accessing the services they need.

Many primary schools have developed good links with local services and projects that work with refugee families. Schools can ensure that information about these services is accessible within the school. Schools can also direct or ‘signpost’ families to appropriate sources of support or make referrals for them. The multi-agency working area of this website provides further information and guidance.

Develop a whole school approach that supports all new arrivals

Support for refugee new arrivals is not the responsibility of individual staff working in isolation. Successful strategies promote shared responsibility and teamwork. Grafton Primary School, in the London Borough of Islington, has developed a whole-school Pupil Mobility Policy to welcome and support new arrivals. You can download this from the Pupil Mobility area of the Islington Ethnic Minority Achievement Service website .

Case studies

A multilingual DVD to support access to services (.PDF)

With funding from the European Refugee Fund, Haringey Refugee Education Team worked in partnership with other services and stakeholders to produce the Haringey Welcomes You DVD. The case study describes how the DVD was developed, what it contains and how it has supported the welcome and integration of newly arrived refugee families. 14 local primary and secondary schools also worked in partnership with the Photographers' Gallery as part of the 'Welcome' project.

Supporting the access and enrolment of Roma children (.PDF)

The Roma Education Project is a Children’s Society project in the London Borough of Newham, The case study describes how the project has supported the admission of Roma children into schools and early education settings, and improved their integration and well-being.

‘Starting Point’: supporting Liberian and Congolese refugee children (.PDF)

A group of 81 Liberian and Congolese refugees were offered a new home in Bolton under the Gateway Protection Programme. The case study shows how the ‘Starting Point’ project supported the induction of children into schools, colleges and early years settings, and addressed the needs of children, young people and families.

To see Starting Point in action please see the Starting Point short film extracts.

The Routes Project: supporting access and enrolment (.PDF)

The Routes Project provides support to refugee and asylum seeker families with children who are between 5 and 13 years old, who have arrived in Manchester during the last 3 years. This case study describes how the project provides assistance to families to access mainstream support services such as schools, GPs, dentists, housing services and benefits advice. The project also aims to help families become less isolated and excluded from society.

The Border and Immigration Agency is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites