Around half of all schools will have Traveller children on roll at some point. In addition, the Government’s policy of dispersing refugees around the country means the number of transient pupils is rising. So despite a lack of information on Traveller education in many teacher training colleges, you are quite likely to encounter them.

Even when they have a permanent home and are based in a school for a long time, Travellers can face isolation, discrimination and bullying. Some schools are reluctant to acknowledge their existence as a community, and anti-Gypsy prejudice still runs very deep. The term “Gypsy” has been replaced by “Traveller” in education parlance, but who are Travellers and how are they supported?

Travellers are linked through occupational nomadism, either because their families work in jobs that require them to be on the move - jobs in fairs and circuses, for example - or because they belong to an ethnic group which has a history of recent occupational nomadism.

Many Travellers routinely pass through the same schools each year. Others may be settled in permanent homes but still be Travellers. In general, Travellers’ movements have regular patterns, deviations from which may be a sign of crisis. Quite often, Traveller children will have their own ongoing portfolio of work which they carry with them from one school to the next.

Whatever their particular background, Traveller pupils need extra help from schools and education authorities. Those who are highly mobile - such as pupils from fairgrounds and circuses, or Travellers living on unofficial camps - need access to school places at very short notice, and often for very short periods.

Others may be living in longer-term accommodation - in housing or on official sites - but they may need special help if their parents and grandparents have had little or no formal education. The routines and expectations in mainstream education can be unfamiliar to such families. Low levels of literacy will also hinder parents trying to support their children at school, particularly when pupils reach secondary age and when completing homework may become difficult for them.

In certain circumstances, Traveller children may never have been to school before and may not be literate in any language. On the other hand, these children may be multilingual and be learning English as their third or fourth language. In these cases, children may have oral linguistic skills well in advance of other pupils in their class.

Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) and the Traveller Education Service both form part of the local education authority and are responsible for providing support for these children.

Most authorities have a Traveller Education Service, a central team that offers support to teachers and families and sometimes works to support individual children.

Typically, support will include liaison between parents and schools, and training for teachers. If you don’t know about the culture of a child in your class, the team can offer the information you need and resources and artefacts that will enrich your classroom and make Traveller pupils feel more at home.

So make sure you know how to contact the Traveller education team in your authority. And prepare for sudden new arrivals by having spare books and labels for trays at the ready. Traveller children can do well at school, but they need to feel valued by teachers and teachers need to be confident and well prepared.

Felicity Bonel is head of the Traveller Education Service in Greenwich