Child refugee numbers soar

According to council documents, the number of child asylum seekers attending Swindon schools has soared from five in 1999 to 110 this year.

Swindon Council says the rising numbers are the result of the Government policy of dispersing asylum seekers across the country.

While the policy means a lighter concentration of refugees in London and the south east, it leaves Swindon schools having to find more money to spend on children who arrive speaking little English.

Cabinet member for children's services Coun Garry Perkins said there needed to be a debate about how the town handles new arrivals.

He said that refugees and asylum seekers added to the town's multicultural nature but the Government needed to help out with the bills.

Coun Perkins (Con, Shaw and Nine Elms) said he has asked for a detailed breakdown of asylum seeker and refugee costs to be presented at the children and young person's partnership board meeting on Thursday.

Swindon schools have asylum seekers from Kosovo, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iran, Turkey, Somalia, Russia, Palestine, Guinea, Lebanon, Congo, Albania, Eritrea, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

The report says the percentage of people granted asylum in the UK has dropped from 65 per cent of applicants in 1999 to six per cent in 2005.

By law, refugees and asylum seeking children in Swindon have the same rights to a school place as any other child living in the area.

Children who arrive without parents are taken in to foster care.

"We do get quite a number of people who turn up in Swindon without parents," Coun Perkins said.

He said the Government dispersal policy meant Swindon was likely to get "several hundred families" with an average of as many as four children each.

"The Government is trying to disperse asylum seekers and refugees from the south east corner," Coun Perkins said. "Some schools do have difficulties.

"For some of them English is a non-language, not just a second language. It does stretch the finances a bit.

"It's an extra we do have to debate. It's a case of recognising that the number could increase.

"The cost does fall back on the taxpayers."

Coun Perkins said unaccompanied refugee children became the responsibility of the council until they turned 21.

He said the care often meant putting them with "emergency parents" while older teenagers were put up in bed and breakfasts.

He said many refugee students "have done extremely well", going on to university after they caught up with the English school system.

Coun Perkins said a lot of the children were enrolled at Drove Primary and Churchfields Secondary schools because their families were concentrated in the town centre.

Drove Primary headteacher Nick Capstick said asylum seekers and refugees were among the school's 89 per cent of students who were members of ethnic minorities.

He said the school was spending £200,000 each year on ways to teach children whose main language was not English out of an annual school budget of about £1.5m.

North Swindon MP Michael Wills said he wanted to help the council get more money but it had failed to contact him with detailed arguments.

He said he could not go to the Government for more money unless the council could give him details of where it needed it.

"Swindon has always been a town of immigrants," Mr Wills said. "Only 10 per cent of the population of Swindon were born in the town. I agree with Coun Perkins that refugees add to our community.

"If the council wants more money from the Government they have to talk to me so I can make a reasoned case to ministers."

Proud of its student mix

DROVE Primary School is proud of its mix of students from different backgrounds, headteacher Nick Capstick says, but they do cost money.

Mr Capstick, said since arriving at the school in 2000 he had seen the proportion of pupils from black and minority ethnic backgrounds go from 29 per cent to 89 per cent.

Mr Capstick said the mix of students offered the chance for youngsters to learn about other cultures but it did put pressure on the school budget.

"We have 27 different languages across 30 different cultures," he said.

This year, two bilingual assistants are being trained to teach English as a foreign language.

"It is expensive," Mr Capstick said. "We have spent £180,000 on our bilingual provision."

Mr Capstick said that having such a diverse school population was good for all students.

"They bring much more than they take."

Drove Primary also has to deal with a 42 per cent turn over of students every year compared to between five and 12 per cent at other schools.

The school does not have a uniform policy, to take financial pressure off struggling parents and also to allow children to keep their own identities.

Mr Capstick said having such a diverse school population was good for all students.

"They bring cultural diversity," he said.

"They allow children who have been here a while to learn about tolerance.

"They bring much more than they take."