Afghan child refugees set to join Bristol schools

The child refugees are set to join classrooms in the coming days

Child refugees from Afghanistan are set to join schools across Bristol after plans to provide a temporary education facility for them were scrapped.

A total of 86 children from families staying in the city after fleeing the Taliban will attend lessons.

Bristol City Council dropped plans for a pop-up school saying there was not enough time to put it in place.

The city is currently providing temporary accommodation for more than 200 Afghan refugees

Many of the children are from families staying in Bristol temporarily and will join classrooms to continue their education until permanent homes are found for them, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

'Kindness and generosity'

"The offers of support received from across the city have been overwhelming, showing the kindness and generosity the people of Bristol are renowned for," a council spokesperson said.

"An important part of the support being offered to those families is to provide children with an introduction to school.

"Although it is unclear how long these families will be with us in Bristol, education is an important part of their new lives in the UK and we're grateful to those schools who have stepped forward with support," they added.

Proposals for a pop-up school in south Bristol were explored but dropped due to time limitations in getting the facility up to standard.

Permanent homes are being found for 16 Afghan households in Bristol and city mayor Marvin Rees said that no resources used to help the refugees were being diverted from other residents in need.

"We are in a constant dialogue with government to make sure they are giving us the resource we need to be able to take on additional people for areas such as education," he added.