Intensive English centres are giving refugee children, deprived for years of education, the chance to learn again.
The Fairfield Intensive English Centre is one of the biggest centres in the country with 370 refugees enrolled this year.
Among the students is 15-year-old Sally Hazim who left Iraq two years ago.
“We left Iraq because, you know, war and it wasn't really safe and comfortable to be there,” she said.
“We moved to Turkey and then we came to Australia. We had been in Turkey for a year and about nine months.
“Sometimes I think like am I really in Australia or am I in my dreams? I like designing with photoshop so my dream job would be like an officer in Microsoft.”
Fellow student Nina Youkhana, 17, was visiting her grandmother Leda Warada half an hour away from her hometown Hasakah in north-eastern Syria when they were attacked.
Ms Warada told SBS News they had to flee to Lebanon or face being murdered as the border to Hasakah was closed.
Student Nina Youkhana, 17, and her grandmother Leda Warada. (SBS News) Source: SBS News
“At 3am Nina's parents ran away to the river,” she said.
“They crossed the river in the dirty water to escape the bullets from IS.”
Almost two years later, Nina's mother, father, sister and brother still haven't been able to escape Syria.
Nina said it had been very difficult to be away from her family, but going to school in Australia was a lot better than Syria.
“It was very difficult to leave my home and go to Qamishli then Lebanon and then Australia,” she said.
“At the beginning I used to cry. When we used to go to school and come back it was very scary there. Once I witnessed my friend being kidnapped by IS using a motorbike.”
Enrolments have almost tripled in the past 12 months and the centre has been forced to use demountable classrooms to keep up with demand.
Students study English for at least one year at the centre before transitioning into the public school system, TAFE or the workplace.
Fairfield State High School Principal Charles Borg told SBS 15 new refugee support leaders have been employed across New South Wales to help with the transition.
Students at the Fairfield Intensive English Centre. (SBS News) Source: SBS News
“One of the things we are really good at doing here is art therapy and also textiles,” he said.
“We've found a lot of our refugee kids are very talented in terms of their artistic skills and their textile skills so we actually do a lot of therapy through the actual curriculum.
“We have a drumming program, where on the surface it just looks like these kids are beating these drums to some sort of rhythm, but it's actually all about while they're doing the drumming talking about their experiences.
“You know the person who does the drumming is Iraqi as well, so he has those experiences.”
NSW schools are being inundated with refugee students with more than 2400 Syrian and Iraqi children expected to be enrolled this year.
Many students need counselling after experiencing trauma, torture or a disability through conflict.
Parent David Tamo told SBS News he worried about his children, but he hoped Australia would give them a better chance.
“We were very scared of the psychological effect on the kids to see blood on the streets,” he said.
“We hope in this peaceful country that they will recover and go back to school and university and do the best for themselves and for the future of this country.”
