Asylum Seeking and Refugee Children

What funding is available to schools to support the education of these children?

Is there any further funding to support the education of these children?

Why are the children of asylum seekers and refugees educated in the same schools as other children?

Local Education Authorities have a legal duty to ensure that education is available for all children of compulsory school age in their area appropriate to age, abilities and aptitudes and any special education needs they may have. 

This duty applies irrespective of a child's immigration status or rights of residence in a particular location therefore this includes children from asylum seeking and refugee backgrounds.     to top ^

What funding is available to schools to support the education of these children?

Local Authorities receive funding for children from asylum seeking and refugee backgrounds in the same way as for other pupils on the school roll through the Education Formula Spending Share.   to top ^

Is there any further funding to support the education of these children?

Children from asylum seeking backgrounds can benefit from two grants which are available to all local authorities. The first is the Vulnerable Children Grant, worth £84m for 2005-2006.  This grant allows local authorities to allocate funding based on local needs in order to provide support to a range of vulnerable children, including those from asylum seeking backgrounds.  The main focus of the grant is on school age children but this does not limit local authorities from taking a wider view and supporting children from birth to nineteen.

The second is the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG), which is targeted at pupils learning English as an additional language as well as for those minority ethnic pupils at risk of underachievement.  For 2005-2006 £168.6m will be available through this grant, the vast majority of which is devolved to schools as head teachers are best placed to make decisions about how to use this funding to support these children, including providing support to acquire English language skills.        to top ^