We were recently involved in the campaign to prevent the closure of the English an as Additional Language Service across East Sussex. The voices of  refugee and asylum seeking families were essential in informing our campaign. Here, a local woman talks about her experience and highlights why it is so important that this vital service is retained for all children.

At first when we came to Hastings my English wasn’t perfect and my little daughter always used to cry every day because she couldn’t understand what everyone was saying at school. She needed someone to help her, but I didn’t have any experience to know that my child needed support, and we couldn’t understand why she was so unhappy.

Even in school they asked me ‘why does your daughter cry every day’ – but my English wasn’t good enough and didn’t help me to let the teachers know how hard it is when no one in the family understands the new language. They made a group for children like her, but it still didn’t work. She kept suffering untill she started to talk a bit of English. And now she’s fine in school.

That’s my experience.

It is so important for us to get English support when we come