Resources for schools

Top ten tips on welcoming new arrivals

1. A welcoming, inclusive ethos creates safety, belonging and success, putting safeguarding first.
2. An anti-racist, anti-discriminatory, trauma-informed approach which is non-judgemental, with staff and pupils trained to welcome.
3. A multilingual approach which actively sees home languages as a strength and uses interpreters/ translation for communication.
4. Develop trusting relationships with parents, learn about the child and their needs, explain our education system and learn about their educational experiences.
5. Ensure all pupils and families understand the school’s bullying and racism policy.
6. Focus on settling in, making friends, feeling valued, visual and collaborative learning - remember the silent period can last for 6 months - be flexible.  
7. Focus on language learning through the curriculum, with high expectations and EAL pupils at the centre of planning for mainstream teaching and learning.
8. Engage with different “knowledge of the world” through school life and the curriculum using a decolonising and inclusive approach.
9. Encourage maintenance and development of the home language with parents as partners.
10. Maintain professional curiosity about safeguarding, wellbeing and learning needs.

Safeguarding

See further information on what you need to consider, advice about private fostering and advice about trafficking from the NSPCC  

Children who have left their home country will be traumatised and may have suffered loss and experienced war. Unlike other children in your setting, you will not know anything else about these children. In order to get some fundamental background information, set up a meeting with the family and an interpreter to find out some basics:

• Who have they arrived with?
• Who is left at home - what contact do they have?
• Have they lost anyone close to them?
• Back at home, before the war, were they adopted, been in care or any other vulnerabilities (SEND, domestic abuse etc)?
• If the child is privately fostered refer this to the SPA (unless the arrangement is through a scheme such as Homes for Ukraine).
• Refer families to the Homes for Ukraine scheme in your borough as soon as a placement is not working. 
• Women and children are vulnerable to trafficking. Does the child/family show signs they may have been trafficked?  

Please also note key guidance about social media and community groups in the UK.

Checklists and guidance

Welcoming new arrivals

• Whole school supporting newly arrived multilingual pupils checklist
• Welcoming families - questions for initial meetings
• Welcoming checklist  for primary class teachers
• Welcoming checklist  for secondary subject teachers
• Achieving for Children Using Interpreter's guidance
• Ten Top Tips for welcoming refugee pupils.
• Welcoming new arrivals padlet  - collates advice and resources for schools, parents and children, general and specific to Ukrainian arrivals.
• Bell Foundation welcoming refugee and asylum-seeking pupils
• Bell Foundation Information for parents about the school system
• Information about Hong Kong, Afghan and Ukrainian new arrivals including funding

Proficiencies in English - use an assessment tool  to establish acquisition of English over time through observation in class - Bell Assessment framework or Hounslow 

Mainstream teaching

• Achieving for Children summary of teaching strategies
• Effective EAL teaching- Bell Foundation
• Great Ideas page- Bell Foundation
• AfC resources list and appropriate resources guidance 

Additional support needs

• EAL/ SEND guide. 

Wellbeing and wider support

• Local community organisations-  refugee organisations, ESOL and other support for families.
• Race and Racism in English Secondary Schools; Addressing Inclusion; 
• Respecting others: Bullying around race, religion and culture  

For bespoke support and training please email Kathryn.Kashyap@achievingforchildren.org.uk