The terms "refugee" and "asylum seeker" have precise meanings in international law.
A refugee is
someone who has fled from his
or her home country in search of safety
'owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted
for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular social group or
political opinion', and has been given full refugee
status after having been judged unable to return
to their country. (1951 UN Convention)
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An asylum seeker is someone who has crossed an international border in search of safety, and refugee status, in another country.
In Newcastle schools there are approximately 1200 pupils at any one time who come from an asylum seeker or refugee background. The countries of origin are numerous but the majority of our pupils come from the following countries: Afghanistan, Africa, Angola, Congo, Columbia, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sri-Lanka, Turkey, South and Zimbabwe.
Pupils may arrive in the U.K. having crossed several borders or having spent time in another country en route. Often they speak not only their mother tongue but at least one or two other languages.
Some of the main refugee languages are:- Arabic, Dari, Farsi, French, Kurdish, Lingala, Ndebele, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Shona,Somali, Spanish, Tamil and Urdu.
Pupils need to feel welcome. An important part of the initial contact with school could be the completion of a short, visual booklet.
The "Welcome" Booklet is taken from an original idea
in "Good Practice in Admissions and Induction" by Maggie
Hewitt and Maggie Scott. The Learning Trust. (Hackney) reproduced
with their kind permission.
Welcome
Booklet (English)
Welcome Booklet
(Punjabi)
Welcome Booklet
(Russian)
Welcome Booklet
(Spanish)
Welcome Booklet
(Turkish)
Further information on welcoming new arrivals can be found on the new arrivals section of our website.
Welcome Booklet
(Czech)
The
Refugee Booklet updating in progress
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