Two years ago, when Ezidi refugees arrived in Armidale in northern NSW, a local teacher Sarah Mills started teaching an intensive English class at Armidale High School.
It began with two students.
By the middle of 2020, more than 100 Ezidi students had joined the centre, which prepares them for high school education, as well as learning the language.
From 2021 it will be more than just a classroom. It will become the first Intensive English Centre (IEC) in country NSW, which will be the first time in 40 years an IEC has opened in a regional community.
Sarah Mills said it demonstrated that the regional city had been a successful refugee settlement site.
"They're saying, we're going to honour that by giving you guys a true centre, which will be on the new site," she said.
"We're almost a separate school, I suppose, sitting on the Armidale Secondary College site. We will have our own enter and exit points, (and) we'll be our own school there."
This year there were 75 students, split into six classrooms, spread over age groups and abilities, and Sarah said the students learnt about everything they will face at school, from sports carnivals to how to use the canteen.
The news that Sarah's group of staff and the Ezidi students will be independently funded by the state government from next year followed efforts by the NSW Teachers Federation last year, and it was backed by the education minister.
Currently, the only IEC outside of the greater Sydney area is located at Warrawong High School and supports newly arrived students in the Wollongong region.
The Ezidi refugees and their families started arriving in the New England city two years ago, with 100 people to start with, followed by more in the following months.
The atrocities that drove them from their home in the Middle East began on August 3, 2014, when ISIS militants killed more than 1000 men within a few hours.
Fathers and husbands were shot; mothers and young girls sexually abused; livelihoods and homes destroyed. Some Ezidis had been ISIS prisoners for years until ransomed; others had lost parents, grandparents, siblings, or children.
After they started arriving in Australia, the intensive English classes at Armidale High School quickly grew.
"Now we have about 13 staff, all sorts of programs in place," Sarah said.
It was just me and two kids (then) but now we have about 13 staff, all sorts of programs in place.
- Sarah Mills
"We like to think we offer a rounded approach to what they need to do. It's not just about English."
As well as higher staffing levels, Sarah said the changes from next year will mean they have a permanent counsellor.
"As you can imagine, we often do a lot of incidental counselling as teachers. Something would have triggered them in class and they come to us and say Miss Sarah I am having a remembering time.
"So something's reminded them of something at home and they need some time out.
Two years ago an athletics carnival showed it can be difficult, despite all the work by the staff.
"We did all the best preparation, we thought we were really good, because we showed them shot put and javelin, and running and all of the activities.
"We didn't even think about the starter gun."
When that starter gun fired, all the Ezidi students hit the deck.
"They were like 'what the heck was that'."
Absolutely beautiful is how Sarah describes the students.
"Anybody who comes down to the IEC wants to stay here, in regards to teaching staff. They're very hard-working, diligent students. They just want to please, and they just want to do well in English and further their career options."
She said teachers begin by building trust and friendship with the students.
"When they do come to us, they do come very damaged, as you can imagine, because they have been through extreme trauma and violence and so we do work on a principle of trust, kindness, friendship, love. All of those things before we even touch base with English.
"Until we have that rapport with them, they basically just tell you to get stuffed, they're not interested. But they don't say it like that," she laughed.
"That's what we spend a lot of time doing, we build up trust and friendship."
Trauma has a big impact on the brain. Especially the continual trauma the kids have been through, and there are also gaps in their learning that need to be handled.
"Some kids have never been to school before. We've got 17-year-olds and 15-year-olds who have never been to school before.
"If you can imagine, really we're teaching kindergarten to about year 10, across the board from 12 to 17-year-olds."
Despite English being the focus on the centre, Sarah said they often say everything else comes first.
"The English at the end, that's our main focus obviously, but we often say the English is last.
"Because until we get the other stuff right, and until they know how to be at school, and be in a school, and be part of a school and follow the rules and all those sorts of things, then it can be very tricky for them."
Note: We have used "Ezidi", the community's preferred spelling, rather than the more common "Yazidi".
