KOSOVAR refugee children are to have special classes set up for them in Blackburn schools so their education does not slip behind while they are in England.

Thirty three youngsters aged between five and 15 arrived in Blackburn earlier in the summer as part of the 138-strong group of refugees which Blackburn with Darwen Council was asked to house at two former homes for the elderly in the borough.

Now that the war is over in their homeland, some refugees have decided to return home soon, while some prefer to stay in England a while longer until the situation becomes safer.

That means some of the children will have spent several months in Blackburn without ever having received any teaching or tuition.

When the refugees arrived on June 3, they were not sent to school straight away because there was only a small part of the school year left and the youngsters would have experienced major language problems.

Education chiefs now believe the time has come to make plans to educate the youngsters who remain in the former Laneside home for the elderly in Shorrock Lane and Shadsworth House in Dunoon Drive.

The youngsters have already received maths, information technology, art and design and English tuition at their new homes.

When the new school year starts in September, they will be taught in two "buffer units" at Hawthorns Junior School for younger children and Beardwood School for secondary school age children.

A report to Blackburn with Darwen Council's school standards committee says: "The principal advantages of establishing buffer units are that it is felt the children will be able to benefit from being able to maintain tuition in their own language, as they will presumably be returning home during the next year.

"As pupils become ready for integration in mainstream classes they would move from the buffer unit to the main school."

Education chiefs say the money spent in resources will be reclaimable from central government.

The committee will discuss the proposals on Thursday.

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