School's 'crucial' program helps refugee students transition into their new lives in Australia

Sydney's Chester Hill High School has been recognised by the Public Education Foundation for their Refugee Welcome Program, which helps refugee students get familiar with their new surroundings.

Source: SBS

A high school in Sydney's south-west has been recognised for helping refugees transition into their new lives in Australia.

Chester Hill High School's "Refugee Welcome Program" is a school-wide program, with its Intensive English Centre (IEC) at the core.

The program is designed to help refugees acclimatise to their new surroundings, while the IEC helps students develop the English skills required to maximise their potential through their high school study.

Students can spend up to 12 months at the IEC before transitioning into the mainstream high school, where 90 per cent of students come from a language background other than English.

This approach has been recognised by the NSW Education Department's Public Education Foundation.

Hania Zahra, from Pakistan, is one of those students who have benefited from the program.

"It was hard transitioning from a country that you've always been living in, where you grew up," she said.

"You have to leave your family and the friends you had living there."

Hania spent time at the IEC and she now hopes to become an interior designer.

Another refugee who has been through the Refugee Welcome Program is Sara Akbeek.

Another refugee who has been through the Refugee Welcome Program is Sara Akbeek. Source: SBS

She arrived in Australia from Syria via Lebanon three years ago and has just finished her HSC.

One of her subjects was Korean and she could lay claim to being the only Korean-speaking Syrian.

What makes the feat even more remarkable is Sara did not speak a word of English when she arrived.

"When I first stepped into the airport I actually got dizzy because they were all speaking English," she said.

"I didn't even know how to get to any store, I couldn't order food or anything."

Understandably for a school in such a culturally diverse part of Sydney, it focuses on new arrivals in particular.

"We're a school that has a lot of heart and the students are just working really hard to make a success of themselves," principal Zena Dabaja said.

"Educators have a lot of challenges in the 21st century, they have got a lot of balls to juggle.

"We take a holistic approach, so it's about developing the whole student."

NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes has praised the program.

"There are obviously a whole series of challenges that those new arrivals face," Mr Stokes said.

"To have one of those common institutions, like a NSW public school, that can root that community and form those connections, is absolutely crucial.

"And that's why it's so important to celebrate what Chester Hill has done."