London, UK, March 14, 2024 —  The International Rescue Committee UK (IRC UK) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded new funding from the UK government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities' (DLUHC) Children and Young People's Resettlement Fund to expand the IRC UK’s vital support to refugee children across England.

This fund facilitates projects in England until March 2025 to support young people who have come to the UK through the Ukraine, Afghan and Hong Kong British National (Overseas) pathways. The IRC UK is one of 11 organisations awarded funding through this programme, which aims to have a positive effect on children and young people from these pathways by addressing their specific needs and vulnerabilities, including mental health and trauma. The funding will allow the expansion of the IRC UK’s Healing Classrooms and Healing Spaces programmes to reach more refugee children across England over the next two years. 

IRC UK’s Healing Classrooms and Healing Spaces programmes take a trauma-informed approach, which recognises the direct impacts that crisis, conflict and displacement can have on an individual's safety, well-being and ability to learn. The Healing Classrooms programme equips schools and educators with the skills to create inclusive, nurturing learning environments where refugee and asylum-seeking students can gain fundamental academic, social, and emotional skills to reach their full potential. The newly-launched Healing Spaces programme builds upon this to provide training to community organisations, charities and NGOs on understanding the causes and consequences of trauma, and vital coping strategies to support children as they rebuild their lives in the UK. 

With this grant, the IRC UK aims to train at least 1,500 teachers and 500 support staff over the course of the project. This will ultimately benefit an estimated 5,000 refugee and asylum-seeking children and young people attending schools and accessing community programmes across England. In addition to direct training, all programme participants will receive handbooks and access to online resources, and the IRC UK will host a series of conferences across the country to facilitate further learning, networking and collaboration among schools, councils and community groups.

By equipping educators and youth workers with strategies to create healing classrooms and healing spaces, this expansion will empower and support more refugee and asylum-seeking young people to rebuild their lives and achieve their full potential in the UK.

IRC Director of UK Resettlement, Asylum and Integration, Genevieve Caston said:

"We are delighted to be awarded this new funding by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in recognition of the transformative power of our trauma-informed Healing Classrooms and Healing Spaces programmes.

Having fled unimaginable crises, many young refugees arrive in England bearing deep psychological and emotional scars. This funding will allow us to rapidly expand our efforts to ensure all teachers, support staff, and community workers are equipped with the skills and strategies needed to create nurturing, inclusive environments for refugee children to heal from the impacts of displacement.

By empowering their support networks with trauma-informed training, we ensure that refugee and asylum-seeking young people, from countries including Afghanistan and Ukraine, have access to safe, supportive spaces where they can learn, heal, and thrive.”

Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Felicity Buchan said:

 “We are supporting thousands of young people arriving in the UK via humanitarian routes from Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong.

Organisations like The International Rescue Committee UK are vital in ensuring that teachers and school staff can help children to recover from the trauma of war and displacement and settle into life in their new communities.

 As the second-year anniversary of our Homes for Ukraine scheme approaches this week, our commitment to the people of Ukraine is unwavering. I’m enormously proud of the welcome the British people have given to the thousands of Ukrainians who have found sanctuary in the UK.”

Notes to editors:

About IRC’s Healing Classrooms programme:

The IRC’s Healing Classrooms programme was launched in the UK in May 2022. The programme offers free training for teachers and support staff that focuses on how to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for refugee children. Based on 40 years of education in emergencies experience and a decade of research and field testing, the Healing Classrooms programme offers children a safe and predictable place to learn and cope with the consequences of conflict and displacement.  

About IRC’s Healing Spaces programme: 

The IRC’s Healing Spaces Training is designed to assist community organisations, charities and NGOs supporting refugee children in the UK. This training explores the causes, consequences and ways to support refugees (at the individual and organisational level) to cope and overcome trauma and toxic stress and rebuild their lives in the UK. The training also covers practical tips on how to embed community building and social-emotional learning (SEL) in organisational activities and ways of working. 
Learn more about the IRC's Healing Classrooms programme and the other courses we provide here.