I work at a state secondary school with (currently) 34 Ukrainian students and seven Ukrainian staff members – cleaners, a teacher and a psychologist. All are refugees.
The government announcement that children of parents benefiting from universal credit are to get free school meals in September 2026 has to be good news (Free school meal expansion in England will benefit fewer than claimed, IFS says, 5 June). But this does nothing to address the worrying situation for the many thousands of Ukrainian students in this country.
Despite being refugees, Ukrainians do not have refugee status here – thanks to a lacuna in the agreement between the UK and Ukraine that appears to exclude them from support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Thus, they not only cannot count on free school meals for their children but also any of the additional support which flows to children receiving free school meals.
Jess Brown-Fuller, the MP for Chichester, has called for more help to be given to Ukrainian refugees. When is the government going to remedy this situation and support the children of people holding the line in Europe?
Susie Cooke
English as an additional language coordinator, Bishop Luffa School, Westgate, West Sussex
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