Nurseries advised on refugee help

The Scottish Executive-funded newsletter, Welcoming Newcomers, is produced by the Anti Bullying Network and the Centre for Education for Race Equality in Scotland, and includes good practice ideas from Sighthill Nursery in Glasgow. Sighthill hit the headlines last year when tensions rose between local people and 1,200 asylum seekers and refugees housed in the area. Children of refugees and asylum seekers initially experienced difficulties accessing pre-school provision but now have the same entitlement to a free nursery place as those born in Scotland.

Deputy education minister Nicol Stephen said, 'This newsletter aims to combat concerns that refugee children in Scottish schools can become the target of bullying and racism.

'Many of these children have come to Scotland to escape the terrors of war. Scotland's schools should be places of hope, not fear. Our classrooms and playgrounds are the best place to show how caring and tolerant our local communities can be.' The newsletter, targeted at school teachers and nursery staff, states, 'Recent attention has been focused on the plight of refugees in a few areas of Glasgow. But any school in Scotland could be faced at any time with the challenge of integrating one or more children who have arrived from a distant land, possibly traumatised by their experiences, probably with little or no English and potentially vulnerable to racism and bullying.' Sighthill Nursery head teacher Mary Garry said, 'It is good that the strategies we used in Sighthill during a difficult period will be disseminated throughout Scotland.

'A member of our staff has done a ten-week professional award in racial equality at Paisley University and all our staff have had a lot of in-service training, which I think is crucial because they are effectively dealing with two communities, the local and the ethnic communities. We have held workshops with parents to let them know what is happening and prevent any tensions within our establishment.

'Language barriers have been the main problem with some of the children. We overcome this by doing lots of practical activities.

'We also cover festivals from different cultures, which the parents welcome. At times we are the only friendly faces the refugee parents see in the morning, so we try to learn simple words such as hello and goodbye in the different languages, which they appreciate. There have been times that the nursery has been a refuge for the parents.

'The trauma experienced by the refugee children affects them differently and we do have instances when we see anxieties. But the children feel the nursery is a safe and secure place for them and they like that.'