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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Rachel Hall

‘It opens eyes’: How one UK school has welcomed and learned from refugees

Maggie Aderin-Pocock smiles as she sits between two pupils at a table
Maggie Aderin-Pocock, an ambassador for the International Rescue Committee, with pupils at Birchanger Church of England primary school. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

When a hotel in the village of Birchanger started hosting refugees in 2022, a group of the fathers turned up at the local school one day and asked: “Can our children join?”

It was both an easy and a difficult decision for Birchanger Church of England primary school in Essex. The school sees itself as a welcoming space rooted in the community, yet staff feared that, like most schools, they would be left on their own to integrate the new pupils.

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