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New Arrivals, Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers and Refugees

New Arrivals, Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers and Refugees

New Arrivals, English as an Additional Language Learners, Refugees and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and Young People

With the number of pupils with English as an additional language including refugees and unaccompanied asylum seeking children and young people increasing from year to year, schools continue to welcome new arrivals from other countries and strive to meet their needs.

Meeting the Needs of New Arrivals

These can vary as the new arrivals in your schools may be facing several challenges including:

  • learning English as an additional language
  • difficulties in managing the transition to a new country
  • feelings of insecurity or trauma due to prior experiences
  • isolation and lack of friends
  • separation from one or both parents, general changes in family situation
  • no previous schooling due to a different starting age in their home country
  • little, no or fractured previous education due to lack of opportunities or instability in their home country
  • different style or emphasis of prior education
  • feeling misunderstood, undervalued, or alienated if they cannot see their culture, language, experiences reflected around the school or in the classroom
  • facing racism in or out of school.

How Can the Equality Diversity Inclusion Team Help?

The Equality Diversity Inclusion Team offer consultancy, individual pupil/group support and training to ensure that:

  • the emotional and social needs of these children are met, by providing a robust induction process involving the child, family, appropriate staff and pupils within the school or setting
  • schools and settings can accurately assess both the linguistic and cognitive ability of the pupils to ensure that they are in the correct group/sets
  • teaching and learning strategies enable new arrivals to access the curriculum from day one
  • all Staff understand EAL pedagogy.

Training can be delivered through CPD Online or bespoke to schools and settings.

For more details and information on how EDIT can help, please click one of the boxes below.

Welcoming, Inducting and Supporting New Arrivals with EAL E-learning Module

Click Here for Welcoming, Inducting and Supporting New Arrivals with EAL E-learning Module >>

Supporting Children with English as an Additional Language E-learning Module

Click Here for Supporting Children with English as an Additional Language E-learning Module >>

Ten Top Tips for Supporting New Arrivals

Teach your class to say hello/words/phrases in the new pupil’s language. Learn to say their name correctly.

Organise buddies, one child will find this tiring; train and reward the buddies.

Meet the family to get background information, use an interpreter if necessary, and arrange for a tour of the school on the same day. Keep the parents/carers informed of progress, they will be anxious too.

Prepare a box of activities, books, puzzles that the pupil can access easily and provide a rest from lessons.

All pupils learn best when they are in class with their peers, ensure that any pre-teaching withdrawal time is targeted, meaningful and time limited.

Group new arrivals with pupils who will be good language and behaviour models, not with the lowest ability children.

Understand the pressures and changes the pupil will be experiencing, this can be exhausting. Keep activities short, they may be tired or go through a silent period.

Find information out about their language, encourage the pupil to rehearse their learning in language one and provide bilingual dictionaries.

Use simple sentences or phrases to model language structures. Re-model language rather than correct mistakes and allow thinking time!

Enhance classroom resources to enable the pupil to access learning, use visuals and graphic organisers. Ensure the environment reflects their cultural and linguistic diversity.

… and lastly create opportunities for the new arrival to succeed every day eg handing out resources.

Funding Available for Newly Arrived Pupils (2020/21)

Newly arrived EAL learners to the UK declaring as EAL in the October census will receive funding for the first 3 years (Year Reception - Year 11) the following April.

  • Primary - English as an Additional Language £535
  • Secondary - English as an Additional Language £1,440

Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) will also be entitled to pupil premium plus
Further information can be found on our EAL Funding in Kent page.

Kent Local Funding Formula Funding Rates 2019-20 and 2020-21

Contact Us

You can get in touch with us using our designated contact page - contact EDIT here!