Peterborough to welcome 28 more Syrian refugees

There are already 72 Syrians settling in their new community as part of the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Programme (SVPRS) and the city council’s adults and communities scrutiny committee heard that more families will be arriving soon.

In June 2016, city councillors pledged to accept approximately 100 people over a five-year period.

Speaking to members of the committee on Tuesday, Jawaid Khan, cohesion manager, said: “These new families will be arriving in the spring and will be supported by a local befriender service commissioned by the Peterborough Asylum and Refugee Community Association (PARCA).

“Of the 72 Syrian conflict refugees already in Peterborough, three have now managed to find employment and six are regularly involved in volunteer work such as the Reading Buddies Scheme.

“What pleases me the most is the incredible achievements in education made by the 37 children of these families.

“Most didn’t speak a word of English when they arrived here, yet they now regularly achieve higher grades than those children who grew up here in Britain, their attendance is rarely below 95 per cent and they have adopted their new language and especially the customs with an enthusiasm and vigour which is a delight to behold.”

Cllr Irene Walsh, cabinet member for communities, said: “I have experienced the amazing achievement of these children myself – when I first went to see them one shy little girl, aged about six, could barely say the word ‘hello’ to me.

“I went to see her again a few weeks ago and she came running up to me, hugged me and was chatting away as if the English language was second nature – it was really wonderful to see and hear.”

Cllr John Howard said: “Why is it that only three of the 35 adults have managed to find employment to date?”

Mr Khan explained: “Most of these families came from a rural background where farming was the only work they had ever done.

“The problem, however, was not so much their transferable skills, but complete and utter illiteracy which we have to tackle first before we even consider letting them out into the job market.”

Peterborough City Council also manages the Fenland District Council pledge to the SVPRS supporting two families (four adults and six children) in the Whittlesey area who arrived in September 2019.