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Bishop Viard College makes a home for refugees

Since the early 2000s, Bishop Viard College has welcomed the refugee community of Porirua.

“Their refugee backgrounds add life and experience to the school,” said Jane Bourke, a whanau leader at the college who has an interest in refugee students.

Three Burmese students who joined at the end of last term are the latest additions to the school.

“This is something that is very important to us. We already have a diverse range of students and would welcome more coming to our school,” Bourke said.

“As we look to the refugees crisis in Europe we hope that our doors can continue to be open to those who need a new place to live.

“We’d be happy to have others.”

Bishop Viard Collge is a decile 1 secondary school with just under 400 students

About 40 of them are originally from countries such as Colombia, Burma and Myanmar.

It receives $3,750,020 in direct government funding, which translates to a budget of $9973 per student.

Source

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