How international schools can help pupils moving away

At the British School of Brussels - an all-through international school in Belgium - students stay for an average of just under four years.

This means that, in real terms, when the summer term ends, 16 per cent of the Year 4 cohort will leave. Six of them are in head of year Dr Clair Draper’s class.

Draper acknowledges that this rate of departure is quite standard in the sector, saying that “[BSB is] a typical British or international school” that has “a constant flow of children leaving and arriving from all over the world”.

Helping pupils’ transition

But this year there has been extra support in place for students, thanks to the introduction of the “Farewell BSB Club”. Established by Draper, this club is focused on ensuring that as much emphasis is placed on a smooth onward journey for those leaving the school as on welcoming new arrivals.

“Transition is a huge process - it isn’t just day one of a new school. It starts the minute that a family know they’re leaving. When that decision is made, that transition period has begun, and it takes a child well into their time at a new school to complete it,” she tells Tes.

“I think of it as a mountain ridge. You’re walking across the top and on one side you can see clearly; it’s daylight and you can see what you’ve left behind. But on the other side, it is all cloudy.”

The Farewell BSB Club - which meets once a week at lunchtime - is therefore about helping pupils to say goodbye, at the same time as preparing them for whatever awaits them on the other side of that metaphorical mountain ridge.

Reflection and anticipation

The club was launched - initially targeting Year 4 pupils - to coincide with the start of the summer term in April and has involved children talking together about where they are going and how they are feeling.

Draper’s expectation is that after the summer, the focus will shift and the club will become a vehicle for welcoming new arrivals (with a name change to reflect that switch, of course).

For the time being, however, the focus is on the leavers, and students have used their weekly sessions to document their BSB experience by making scrapbooks, taking photos and contacting the teachers who have played a part in their education at the school.

As well as reflecting on the past, the club has also looked ahead to what is coming next.

For example, the children have been researching their next destinations to find out more about the culture, language and climate, as well as the places they might explore and the things they might do when they get there.

They have even used the school’s green screen to superimpose their images on to pictures of their new home countries so they can start to imagine their new lives.

Scrapbooks ‘something tangible to take away’

Draper says the aspect of the club that children have valued the most has been “the making of something tangible to take away with them” - as well as having a space that’s just for them.

“At this time of year, children start talking about who their new teacher is going to be or who is in their new class,” she says.

“This club brings together the children who otherwise would be on the periphery of all that and gives them a collective experience. They can have their own conversations with children in a similar situation to them.”

Through the club and other work in this area - Draper’s doctorial thesis, published in 2018, looked at children’s experiences of transition - Draper says she has come to realise that every child’s situation is unique: some are excited about leaving but some are worried; some are heading somewhere new but others are returning to their home country; some will continue to be educated in a similar system but others are destined for schools where they will have to adapt to different academic demands.

Space to talk

However, in every instance, Draper believes the opportunity to share what they are excited about and what they are concerned about has been valuable.

“It’s just about listening to them and giving a space for them to just talk things through. There can be so many emotions involved in leaving. Whether you’re happy about it or not, it tends to be a bit of a rollercoaster.”

The weekly meetings also make it more likely that a staff member will be aware of key events like when the family’s removal company is coming - or when a child’s circumstances have changed materially.

“Sometimes kids go into hotels, they go to Airbnbs, before they leave, and they’re arriving at school every day, like everything’s normal, but it’s not,” says Draper.

Other opportunities to offer support

She acknowledges that international schools are already well aware of the importance of children having a positive transition.

At BSB, for instance, leavers receive a small teddy bear as a souvenir of their time in the school - and this kind of approach is common across the sector, she says.

But having a transitions club can help to ensure consistency of approach and that every child has that chance to reflect - although there are other obvious opportunities to offer tailored support, says Draper.

For instance, if a child is leaving at the end of an academic year when “moving up” activities, like meeting the new class teacher, are taking place, this time could be capitalised on, she suggests.

“Don’t make them do things for the sake of it, if it’s not relevant to them,” she says.

“During those times, take that opportunity to collect those children together to do something meaningful - to talk about where they’re going, about how they’re feeling about where they’re going, and give them opportunities to share those experiences with each other.”

Supporting those left behind

Of course, it’s not just the children who are leaving who can find saying goodbye difficult - there can also be an impact on the friends who are left behind.

To acknowledge the special place that friends have in the lives of the leavers, Draper is planning to allow club members to bring along someone special to the final meeting - which just so happens to coincide with the last day of term.

“Just having that moment of acknowledgement could be powerful on both sides,” she says.

In terms of equipping pupils, more generally, to cope with life in a school where the population is more transient, BSB changes the classes regularly so that children “build new relationships” and are encouraged to mix more widely.

Draper also believes that sport and other extracurricular activities can be powerful to give young people - whatever their circumstances - “something outside of the classroom that they can be connected to and feel a part of”.

Ultimately, she says, schools should keep working to understand their pupils’ needs and ensure that they are “sensitively supported” through transition - irrespective of how many times they have moved.

The last day of term in any international school is always “filled with emotion”, she says, but “the worst thing you can possibly do is let a child’s last day arrive without anything happening”.