WHAT WE DO

Our Vision

Jacari's vision is a society where young people from all backgrounds have the confidence and language skills to achieve their full potential.

Our Activities

Jacari provides a range of bespoke English language learning opportunities for young people, delivered by our volunteers. We match volunteers to a pupil who has English as an additional language (EAL) who they support weekly during term-time, helping them improve their English language skills and increasing their confidence.

Our volunteers are mostly university and sixth-form students and provide their pupil with a mentor who makes education fun, and inspires a love of learning in their tutees.

We also organise termly trips and fun activities so the young people we support can practise their English in a relaxed environment and visit local attractions.

Who we support

We help children and young people from refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant communities in deprived areas of Bristol and Oxford. The children and young people we support are a wonderfully diverse group, representing many different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The thing they have in common is that they speak English as an additional language and their school teachers know that they would benefit from the extra support we offer - perhaps because they lack confidence, are struggling at school, or have just arrived in the UK and are new to English.

We work closely with our partner schools to identify which pupils need our support, prioritising children who have recently arrived in the UK, who are in the early stages of acquisition of English language, as well as identifying those who qualify for free school meals.

Why we support EAL pupils?

Research by The Bell Foundation shows that EAL pupils are more likely to underachieve at school and that educational attainment increases with greater English proficiency.
Numbers of EAL pupils in England are increasing and in 2022/23 they accounted for 20.2% of all pupils nationally. Across all the schools we partner with, an average of 46% of pupils use EAL.
Newly arrived refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant children have to adapt to a completely different education system and unfamiliar curriculum. Many will have experienced significant disruption to their education.
EAL pupils can experience isolation within the school community due to language barriers and cultural differences.
EAL pupils face assumptions that they aren’t intelligent and curious because they can’t understand or communicate in English.
Many young refugees and asylum-seekers experience trauma, feelings of loss, and a significant change in their circumstances which can lead to mental health issues and make it difficult to learn and settle in at school.

In 2023 we commissioned Dr Andrea Macrae of Oxford Brookes University to conduct research into the challenges faced by migrant and refugee children, approaches to address these challenges and the impact of the type of support offered by Jacari.

Download our research report

Our Values

Equality: We recognise that people are different and unique, with diverse talents which should be celebrated and shared. We are driven by the belief that everyone should have equality of opportunity to achieve their full potential.

Aspiration: We believe that everyone can achieve highly with the right support. We aim to inspire confidence and encourage an ambitious mindset in every young person we work with.

Love of Learning: We recognise that engaging young people in their learning is best done through showing that learning can be fun, enjoyable and enriching. All staff and volunteers model this value and are committed to lifelong learning.

Community: We work to create connections and foster solidarity between diverse communities in society through collaboration and volunteering.

History of Jacari