immigration | Schools Week

Kent admits it has not run out of school places amid migrant crisis

Kent council leaders said last week there were no Year 7 or 9 school places in some areas of the county due to the “unexpected” arrival of refugee children

Breach school capacity and class limits if needed for Ukrainian children, says DfE

Schools can exceed their published admission numbers and class size limits to ensure children from Ukraine have places

How schools can reverse Gypsy and Roma under-achievement

MPs are investigating why Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children have the worst exclusion and attainment rates

The Brexit ‘minefield’: how immigration changes threaten school jobs and trips

Some migrant pupils risk exclusion from school trips and European staff risk losing jobs under post-Brexit immigration reforms. As the EU settlement scheme deadline expires this week, Schools Week investigates wider Brexit disruption to schools, from rising building costs to recruitment and travel woes. Julie McCulloch, the policy director at ASCL, the school leaders’ union, […]

Schools warned Brexit driver shortages threaten meal supplies

School meals could face disruption and caterers have begun stockpiling as a driver shortage fuelled by Brexit and Covid puts deliveries at risk, a local council has warned. Sheffield City Council said cooks would be given two days’ “emergency stand-by menu items” from this week in case the national driver shortage threatens frozen and dry […]

Campaigners fear another ‘hostile environment’ over EU pupils’ status

Schools will face “inappropriate” pressure to snoop on EU pupils’ immigration status from next month, say heads and campaigners afraid of a “hostile environment” damaging relationships with parents. EU nationals who have not applied for settled status by June 30 will become undocumented and could risk losing the right to work or their children’s right […]

Government faces legal action on pupil nationality data

A campaign group is raising money to take the Department for Education to the High Court over its decision to collect data on school pupils’ nationality and country of birth. The human rights charity Liberty will represent Against Borders for Children, which will focus on whether the policy infringes the rights of pupils. The groups also […]

Two-year visa migrant teachers ease recruitment crisis

Schools are increasingly opting to employ migrant teachers on strict two year-only visas. The government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published its “review of teachers” report last week calling for computer science, Mandarin and general science teachers to be added to the government’s official occupation shortage list – jobs where there are not enough resident workers […]

Child refugees: One school’s international solution for new arrivals

While schools and councils across the country deal with the challenge of mid-term arrivals, officials in the London borough of Wandsworth can call upon the expertise of one institution thanks to a scheme set up a decade ago. At Southfields academy, an “international group” takes responsibility for all child refugees who arrive in the south […]