Sevenoaks Welcomes Refugees

Sevenoaks Welcomes Refugees helps families to resettle and find confidence in building a life in Kent. They are a small and growing organisation, with about 100 active volunteers and currently support the resettlement of 4 Syrian refugee families in the Sevenoaks district area, and are hoping to find accommodation for further families this year.

Sevenoaks Welcomes Refugees are new to Kent Community Foundation and received a grant of £2,000 in 2020 to contribute towards the upgrade of technology used deliver the English lessons.

“All of us at Sevenoaks Welcomes Refugees are absolutely delighted to have been awarded £2,000 from the National Emergencies Trust via the Kent Community Foundation Coronavirus Emergency Fund. We are investing this money in upgrading the technology we and the refugees are using to deliver the English lessons that we are providing remotely through the COVID lockdown. Specifically, we have bought licences to use the remote-learning platform Flash Academy, and new laptops, tablets, printers, and consumables for the families.

Helping the refugee families to learn and improve their English is one of the most important aspects of the support we provide to refugees as they resettle in our area. Everything flows from their ability to speak English – integration with their local community, meeting people and making friends, training, and finding work.

Flash Academy is a highly regarded remote-learning platform and has been a great success with the families. Using it, and the new IT kit, has made such a difference to our ability to keep these lessons going through the lockdown, and to reduce the families’ sense of isolation during this exceptionally difficult and worrying time. We will continue to make good use of the Flash Academy tool if and when the lockdown eases sufficiently for us to resume home-based sessions.”