Refugees in Newcastle are finding support to settle into their new lives thanks to Newcastle College’s ESOL team.

Hundreds of asylum seekers are currently being housed in hotels near Newcastle International Airport. Last summer, Newcastle College’s ESOL team, including Curriculum Leader Mark Hutchinson, and charity partner Action Foundation, visited the two hotels to meet the residents and see how many they could offer courses to.

Mark said: “I wanted to know how we could help make these very vulnerable people feel more socially included in life in the UK. We were able to get many enrolled onto our ESOL courses, and even more were able to get courses with Action Foundation.”

Zahir Ahmed has now been living in the hotel for 10 months but is making remarkable progress thanks to his ESOL course.

He commented: “I didn’t know anybody when I first arrived here from Sudan, and I couldn’t go anywhere. My English wasn’t improving at all, and I felt quite lonely. Then some teachers from Newcastle College came to the hotel. A teacher called Joanne spoke to me. She was very friendly, and she helped me start an English class.

“I started in a beginner's English class. My English really improved quite quickly. I am making lots of friends at college too. It takes me about an hour and a half to get to college, but I never miss a day.

“I want to keep studying English next year. Then, I hope I can start work. I was a mechanic in Sudan. I would love to do that in Newcastle too.”

Mark continued: “Zahir is here on time every day, and he’s so positive. His English is improving incredibly quickly and he’s making the most of his new connections at the college.

“The aim of our ESOL courses is to help people such as Zahir integrate into society. Once their English is good enough, we can help them to apply for work, help their children with their schoolwork, and much, much more.”

Newcastle College currently has around 1,200 learners on its ESOL provision, many of whom came to the UK as refugees or asylum seekers, something that helps them to form a tight-knit community at the College’s Riverside Dene campus.

Newcastle College offers a range of support initiatives for ESOL learners including a free travel pass, meetings with the Job Centre and access to JET (a local charity helping migrants to write a CV) and Your Homes (the social housing operator in Newcastle).

Many are also able to access additional support through NCG’s Our Community is Your Community programme, which aims to help student refugees overcome barriers they face when arriving and learning in a new culture and society through strands of activity: language, building social bonds and connections, employability, refugee entrepreneurship, and health and wellbeing. The programme is led by Project Coordinator Shivan Mirza, who has been a refugee twice in his life.