KarunaNews Story

When a hotel in the English village of Birchanger began hosting refugees in 2022, it brought new arrivals to the Birchanger Church of England primary school. The children from Kurdistan, Iran, Colombia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine and Afghanistan also brought new challenges such as processing trauma and learning English from scratch. Seeking help, teacher Emma Walsh found the International Rescue Committee healing classrooms program, which has trained more than 2,082 teachers. Josh Corlett, IRC’s UK education manager, said schools are often “the only bit of normality and consistency” in refugee children’s lives.” Head teacher Sharon Vessey said the students have enriched the school.