EA launches good practice guide for schools working with newcomer families

The guide has been developed by the EA in partnership with school staff in a number of schools across Northern Ireland who have experience in working with newcomer children and young people.

The guide provides practical advice for schools when working with children and young people who are asylum seekers or refugees, in order to best support them on a range of issues including integration, language acquisition and dealing with trauma.

Welcoming the launch of the guidance, Education Minister Paul Givan said:

"I welcome the launch of this important guidance for schools. The guidance will play an important role in helping to remove barriers to learning for our newcomer children and providing them with the right support to ensure they can enjoy high quality educational experiences and outcomes..

"Newcomer pupils make up around six per-cent of our overall school population and add to the richness of the growing cultural diversity across our schools and the wider community. The work of our schools, supported by the Education Authority in ensuring our newcomer children are educated in a settled and supportive environment is hugely important not only to them and their families but also to our wider society.

"On taking up my post as Education Minister, I outlined my aim of ensuring that children from all backgrounds and abilities are happy, learning and succeeding.  The launch of this guidance in support of newcomer pupils helps to deliver on this aim."

Chair of the EA Safeguarding Committee, Patricia Carville, said:    

“I am delighted to speak at this event today. As chair of EA’s Safeguarding Committee, we have taken a close interest in our newcomer children, their needs and safeguarding.  Schools play such an important part in the integration of our newcomer population who in turn have so much to contribute to our society. This practical guide has been written by teachers for  teachers with helpful practical advice to them. I pay tribute to the many schools in NI that have made this place a welcoming society for newcomer children.”

Principal of Fane Street Primary School, Belfast, Hilary Cunningham, said:

“We believe that our children can only thrive in school if they know how important they are to us, and we do our utmost to ensure that their needs are met. This must be done by working with and supporting the whole family, something we strive to have at the very core of our school community at Fane Street.  The support of Intercultural Education Service has been invaluable to us in the fulfilment of this role.”

Senior Teacher at All Saints College, Belfast, Conor Kennedy, said:

“The rise in Newcomer pupils in our schools, both primary and post-primary, provides opportunities and challenges alike. Opportunities to broaden the culture of our schools, gain new insights and share experiences, as well as further developing our approaches to teaching. The challenges in logistically and meaningfully meeting newcomer pupils’ needs in a flexible and nuanced manner, to remove barriers to learning, support the acquisition of the English language, and extend pastoral support to families new to the particularities of our own distinct education system.

“Due to the limited time left in mainstream schooling, and the pressures of Key Stage Four and Five examination systems, the challenges mount and schools require even greater support and flexibility to meet these pupils’ needs in such a way as to ensure that every learner fulfils his or her potential at each stage of development. This document is a further step along that path and will, I hope, lay the foundations for innovative approaches to allow all newcomer pupils to thrive in our schools.”