Transcript

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Student:
When we first moved here we lived in Bondi. I was the only African girl in my school and I was quiet and shy and I didn’t want to talk to anyone because they were just staring at me.

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Student:
Some of them would ask me weird questions like ‘So, did your brother what kill a lion?’ You know something like that because they knew nothing about Africa.

Teacher:
This is the School Principal. Some of you might have met her and when we walked around the school …

Woman:
We have a high proportion of unaccompanied minors, often because they’re orphaned or because they’ve lost their parents along the way.

Student:
It makes you really strong but it’s still really hard to live without your parents and yeah I miss them all the time, so.

Teacher:
If you need to speak to the School Counsellors you just go up and knock on their door.

Woman:
A lot of the students suffer from depression, anxiety.

Woman:
We had to fight with our minds and with our negative thoughts every day and give ourselves hope that it will be better for us for the future.

Woman:
They have often of course had huge interruption to their education and in some cases they’re completely illiterate when they arrive.

Woman:
When students haven’t learnt to read or write in their first language the ability to learn in a second language is that much more complex.

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Student:
I came to Australia with no English background. Teachers helped me learn how to write English and how to speak English.

Student:
I’ve never thought that I would get an education. But when I came here I got this school and this school helped me a lot.

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Woman:
They have to be taught from the very beginning but they haven’t got twelve years to do that.

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Woman:
They’ve got maybe three or four years to bring themselves up to speed then enter the Higher School Certificate courses.

Teacher:
Alright, Year 11 can someone please tell me what flat rate interest is? Yes.

Student:
Flat interest means the interest charged on the full amount of money borrowed from the bank and the length of time that it is borrowed for.

Man:
We’ve had quite a few students from a range of different countries that basically have never been to a high school so we’re asking them to possibly come into Year 10. But the last time they were in school was when they were in the equivalent of Year 3 primary school. So, it’s a massive challenge for students.

Woman:
High school was hard. We had to challenge with those children who started from Kindergarten and I had to catch up with them.

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Student:
I’m still struggling because I missed three years of school, which made it like very hard for me catching up with the students.

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Narrator:
In NSW refugee students receive intensive English language support when they first arrive.

Woman:
When children move from the intensive centre into the high school, they all go into additional ESL learning, which may take place within the classroom with an extra teacher in the classroom.

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Man:
The refugee student comes to the school through the Intensive English Centre and that’s a part of the school which is specifically designed to prepare students for the Australian education system. The secondary part of it we really intensely work with the parents. And through a thing called the Parents Café our first step is to get these new settlers introduced to what the NSW education system is like, what the Fairfield community is like.

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Narrator:
Schools have an essential role to play in helping refugee students settle.

Woman:
Creating a welcoming environment, starting with the enrolment process, helping parents feel a part of the school …That to me is the first step.

Man:
Being aware of bullying issues in school and discrimination issues is really important.

Student:
A lot of the students from refugee background get bullied because of maybe their accent in speaking English or the way they dress, their culture.

Student:
Most of the time it’s about skin colour. Actually it sometimes makes me really angry.

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Narrator:
Many schools with refugee students establish programs to support transition from Intensive English Centres.

Woman:
At the IEC you had all ESL teachers. At this school there’s not all ESL teachers. So, some of these teachers will come into your classes and support you.

Narrator:
Some establish orientation programs including buddy systems where local students welcome and guide the refugee student through the school.

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Woman:
For refugee students one of the biggest challenges is making friends.

Woman:
That feeling of isolation is quite strong when they start in a school.

Woman:
I’m just going to teach you how to read your timetable. I’m the Refugee Transition Coordinator. My role starts before the students even get to the school. So, they come from an Intensive English Centre and I run Orientation Day for them. The other main thing that I do here is I run small classes for refugee students.

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Woman:
We do literacy and we do English and numeracy but we also do the cultural kind of aspects of the school plus the wider cultural perspectives of living in Australia.

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Narrator:
For successful settlement schools need to make sure that the whole school community supports refugee students and their families.

Man:
I’ve seen the difference that a supportive environment can make to a young person and how they’ve moved along and the immense contribution that they make and the kids can offer Australia a new way of doing things, a different way of thinking. I think that’s fantastic, that’s what this country’s all about.

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