Enhancing Educational Support: Towards Holistic, Responsive and Strength-based Services for Young Refugees and Asylum-seekers Nathan Hughes Institute of Applied Social Studies, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK Hanne Beirens GHK Consulting Ltd, Brussels, Belgium The importance of early school experiences in the personal and social development of young refugees and asylum-seekers has been documented by researchers and enshrined in practice guidelines. The capacity of schools to implement these guidelines is, however, limited, in terms of the availability of appropriate knowledge and skills, financial resources and long- term planning. In this article we draw upon case studies of six school or education-based ser- vices funded by the Children’s Fund. We explore the various ways in which these have enhanced the ability of schools to address multiple and interrelated family- and community- level factors impacting on the educational attendance and achievement of this group. In con- clusion, we consider the challenges to scale up and sustain these services. Ó 2007 The Author(s). Journal compilation Ó 2007 National Children’s Bureau. Introduction In this article we reflect upon recent approaches to supporting the education of young ref- ugees and asylum-seekers through the Children’s Fund. This Fund is one of a wide range of recent UK government programmes targeting families and areas deemed to be ‘at risk’ of social exclusion: 1 a major policy priority of the Labour government since 1997. Drawing upon a comparative study of two local Children’s Fund partnerships conducted in the framework of the National Evaluation of the Children’s Fund (NECF) (Barnes, 2005; Edwards and others, 2006), we examine support to the education of young refugees and asylum-seekers across two local authorities: one northern Metropolitan authority and one London borough. This support has been offered through six main services (described in Appendix 1) that, together, are intended to address various identified needs and gaps in existing provision. The areas addressed include (but are not limited to) induction procedures and processes, school staff training, classroom assistance, after-school and holiday provision, additional specialist classes, emotional support, mentoring, home—school liaison, and suppor- ted access to additional mainstream and community services. CHILDREN & SOCIETY VOLUME 21, (2007) pp. 261–272 DOI:10.1111/j.1099-0860.2007.00098.x Ó 2007 The Author(s) Journal compilation Ó 2007 National Children’s Bureau