Accessing school and other services

Refugee children and young people have the same entitlement to secondary education as other children in England.

Education provides a positive means to foster more rapid and supported integration. Getting into school quickly and receiving appropriate support helps refugee children and young people fit into a normal daily routine where they can feel safe, make friends and achieve. For many refugee families, schools are places where they can obtain important information and advice about local services and ways to obtain further support. By accessing school, refugee children and families can therefore obtain help with their immediate needs and start the process of integration.

Recognising that refugee pupils often arrive in school outside normal admission times, secondary schools have developed effective strategies for supporting access and enrolment to school. These include ways of supporting key stage 4 new arrivals.

Secondary schools have developed a range of additional strategies to respond to the sometimes complex needs of refugee pupils and their families. Through multi-agency working schools can ensure that families receive the help they need to integrate and the pupils to thrive.

Many secondary schools provide a wide range of additional activities and opportunities for out-of-school-hours learning. Through involvement in these activities, refugee pupils have additional opportunities to make friends, catch up with learning and integrate into their local community.