Peer support and friendships

Refugee pupils may have had recent experiences where they felt anxious and threatened. Many of them will also have experienced significant disruption to their lives and the loss of their social and family networks. This can affect their confidence and self-esteem at a time when they are having to adapt to a new environment and perhaps learn a new language. Refugee pupils and their families can also experience racism .

Going to school should enable refugee children and young people to feel safe and secure, reassured by a warm welcome and effective support. The opportunity that school gives refugee children for positive relationships and friendships with peers from their own and from the host community supports integration.

Good practice

By supporting refugee children and young people to make positive friendships and relationships, schools can help refugee pupils settle and feel a sense of belonging.

Establish a warm and welcoming environment

Children and parents need to feel safe and included. Supporting access and enrolment to school gives guidance on this. Colourful posters, multi-lingual welcome signs and positive images of, and messages about, the school’s diversity all contribute to creating an environment where refugee children can feel safe.

Provide new arrivals with a ‘buddy’

‘Buddies’ can help refugee children settle quickly and become familiar with the school’s routines.

Managing Pupil Mobility: A handbook for induction mentors (DfES 2003)(.PDF) provides guidance on setting up a buddy scheme. Some schools provide new arrivals with a ‘playground buddy’ and a ‘classroom buddy’ to support their integration in the first few weeks.

A Guide for the official class friends, published by Newham Education Action Zone (EAZ). Newham EAZ have given permission to Portsmouth Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) to make this available on their website as a downloaded document. A certificate to reward buddying (PDF) can also be downloaded from the same site.

Develop friendship-building activities

Friendship-building activities can take place both inside the classroom, at break-times and as part of after-school activities. Some schools have established lunchtime clubs providing new arrivals with access to recreational activities and opportunities for friendship.

Develop peer support

Link peer support for new arrivals with existing good practice in the school. Many schools have already established peer support schemes where pupils are consulted, trained, supervised and resourced to offer mentoring support to their peers.

Setting up a peer support scheme (.PDF) published by ChildLine, provides guidance for practitioners.

Peer Support Networker provides schools with information, guidance and networking opportunities to develop peer support schemes.

QCA Pathways to learning for new arrivals includes guidance on Peer support and demonstrates the opportunities in personal, social and health education (PSHE) and citizenship for pupils to learn about the diverse communities in which they live and to develop the skills of respecting and including new arrivals.

I am Here! a Save the Children teaching resource pack provides schools with a range of activities that can increase awareness and develop peer support for refugee new arrivals.

Peer support can also be developed through curriculum activities. The celebrating diversity area of this website gives guidance on raising awareness about refugees.

Provide mentoring support

Some refugee children and young people may have special difficulty settling in and making friends in the school and may find it helpful to have the guidance and support of a mentor. Schools and the voluntary sector can work together to set up mentoring schemes .

A guide to setting up mentoring schemes for young refugees (.PDF) can be downloaded from the Save the Children website.

Build partnerships with local Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs)

RCOs frequently run educational and recreational activities to support children’s development and progress. Schools can put new arrivals and their families in touch with these activities. This can enable new pupils to make friends with children and young people in their own community. RCOs may have few resources and may therefore benefit from the opportunity of using school facilities. This can further promote good relations between refugees and their host community.Some RCOs also run befriending programmes and may be able to offer support and friendship to newly arrived children and families.

To obtain information about the work of refugee community organisations in your area contact agencies and services that work with refugees. Refugee Forums in some cities have collated directory information. For example:

Manchester Refugee Support Network has produced a Manchester RCO directory.

Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees in the UK (ICAR) is developing a series of nationality-based navigation guides to refugee populations in the UK. The ‘contacts’ section at the back of each guide has information on country-specific groups and projects.

In Yorkshire and Humberside and Liverpool regions, the Directory section of the refugee access website has some RCOs contact details.

Some Regional Community Development workers in either Refugee Action or the Refugee Council have information about the work of RCOs in their areas. 

Praxis are developing an online map of RCO locations in the UK.

Evelyn Oldfield Unit keeps information online about RCO groups affiliated to them, and to their projects in London.

Case studies

Peer support project at Holly Lodge High School (.PDF)

West Midlands Red Cross coordinates a peer support project at Holly Lodge High School in Sandwell. The case study describes how volunteers from year 10 at the school have been trained as peer mentors and support newly arrived pupils in years 7 and 8 during tutor group periods. The scheme provides new refugee pupils with someone they know they can rely on to help.

Peer mentoring unaccompanied refugee children (.PDF)

In Cardiff, ten peer mentors were recruited from local schools and trained to support young unaccompanied refugees in the You Are Not Alone drop-in centre. The case study describes how the project was set up and promoted, and how the activities supported the needs of these vulnerable young people.