There are 2,200 children amongst the Afghan families who have been re-settled already (those with a direct link to the Armed Forces or the UK government in some way).  The majority of these children are primary school age with only about 10% secondary age.  Many have quite acute mental health needs and have low levels of English language. The situation remains very raw and chaotic.

The Department For Education and Home Office are focussing on a ‘resettlement support package’ which will focus on prioritising housing.  However, there is a key need to provide trusted information about education for the children helping to welcome them into the UK system. Following conversations with the Department for Education, Refugee Education UK (REUK) is developing an Education Welcome Pack to help children settle-in produced in Pashto, Dari and English.

The pack has some standard content with some other local content provided by the Local Authority (L.As will answer a series of questions provided by REUK). The Department for Education is supporting with distribution channels. REUK is alos offering an online training package for schools and Local Authorities about how to support families best. This covers an introduction to the Resettlement scheme, what barriers to progress there are and how schools can support children to achieve. The training is being delivered through existing networks (for example: Schools of Sanctuary).