Asylum seeker and refugee support

Hampshire Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (Hampshire EMTAS) can offer advice and support to schools receiving asylum seeking and refugee children.

Hampshire has relatively few refugee families. This means that many of them are isolated and very vulnerable. Schools will need to be flexible in their approach and provide a planned induction programme. This may be in conjunction with Hampshire Social Care if the child concerned is unaccompanied.

• Advice for schools - support available from EMTAS
• Information for parents - advice and links
• Information for unaccompanied children - link to downloadable booklets available in English, Arabic, Farsi, Kudish Sorani and Pashto.

Please note that government law and guidance regarding asylum seekers and refugees is under constant review.

Definition of terms 'asylum seeker' and 'refugee'

In most countries a person must apply for asylum before they are recognised as a refugee. An asylum seeker is someone who arrives in a new country and makes an asylum application. It is then up to the Government to decide if their claim meets the definition of a refugee, as below.

The 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees defines a refugee as someone who has fled their country due to 'a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion'.