The Student Action for Refugees (STAR) Group has been announced as the best new STAR Group in the UK at the organisation’s National Conference.
STAR is a collection of 27,000 students from over 40 Higher Education institutes around the UK, but West London College is only one of two FE colleges to have a group.
The group was celebrated for the excellent work they have done helping refugees at the college by organising conversation programmes, activities and games to boost their confidence in speaking English. The group was also at the forefront of organising events at West London College for Refugee Week.
Many of the members of the STAR group are former refugees themselves who started at West London College on ESOL programmes before moving onto successfully study full-time vocational courses.
ESOL Teacher Nicci Golland has worked with a number of the students involved in the group, often very soon after they arrived in the UK. She said: “I’m very proud of our ESOL students who give up their free time to help others. They are truly a remarkable group of young people!”