‘They have somewhere to turn to’: Wellbeing support for newly arrived refugee and migrant adolescents in English secondary schools

Children continue to comprise a significant portion of refugees and migrants worldwide and may be impacted by challenges or trauma prior to or during their journey, or after arrival in the host country. School serves as a constant place in the lives of many of these newly arrived children, and a potential setting for wellbeing support. However, there is a gap in understanding how young newcomers are supported at school and by whom; this is especially unclear in an education system like England's, which has a default policy of directly mainstreaming non-English-speaking students, which many young newcomers are. We interviewed 29 school staff members at eight secondary schools to gather their perspectives on who provides wellbeing support to young newcomers and the nature of such support. Using thematic analysis, we found that the majority of wellbeing support for young newcomers is performed by English as an additional language (EAL) staff and that the main form of support provided is through individualised relationship building, which in turn mutually fosters other types of support. Using Gholami's framework of moral care and caring pedagogy as central to teachers' praxis, we discuss how care is at the core of EAL staff actions in supporting newcomer wellbeing and how these staff members at times prioritise care over learning. Our findings have important implications for both school staff and newcomer students, for which we provide several recommendations.