New data shows that schools in Oxfordshire have offered almost 150 places to children fleeing the war in Ukraine.

The UK Government currently operates resettlement schemes for refugees and migrants exiting Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong – many of whom are families with children.  

Figures from the Department for Education show at least 143 Ukrainian students have been offered school places in Oxfordshire as of May 27.

The data also show that 120 offers have been made to pupils settled from Afghanistan and 43 to children from Hong Kong.

The Government estimated 11,400 applications have been made for Ukrainian child refugees nationally up to May 27, of which nearly 10,000 had been given offers – including around 2,200 in the South East.

The figures were collected through a survey given to local authorities, with 77 per cent of councils responding.

Read more: Lady in Oxfordshire has been waiting 19 weeks to receive her passport

Separate data from the Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities shows that 1,880 refugees had been given visas in Oxfordshire under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme as of July 5, 1,343 of which have arrived in the UK.

Which is up from four weeks ago, when there were 1,085 arrivals from 1,645 offers.

The Association of School and College Leaders said that while refugee students have been openly welcomed by schools, there is more work to be done to help them.

Geoff Barton, the organisation’s general secretary said: The main challenges are the language barrier and supporting the children with the trauma they have experienced.

“We are concerned about the availability of wider specialist support for their mental health and wellbeing which schools can draw upon.

“Our impression is that this is patchy and that schools are largely doing this on their own without any additional resources.”

Save The Children, a global children’s charity, agreed that more support is needed for Ukrainian students.

Director of UK impact Dan Paskins said: “We are calling for more skilled caseworkers to speed up applications to come to the UK and to help if placements break down, and for more specialist mental health support for children and families.”

The charity said it wants a comparable sponsorship scheme to be extended to refugees from other countries.

The Department for Education has said that some children may not yet have school places in the UK but suggests this could be due to pupils undergoing remote learning from Ukraine, or parents not realising that the English academic year finished later than in Ukraine.

It added it is working to ensure all Ukrainian students can have a place in UK schools, asking families to apply now rather than wait for the new academic year in September.

 

Read more from this author

This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1

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