With no hope of an imminent return home for Syrian refugees, many of the young are seeking an education elsewhere. Geraldine Hackett looks at the efforts being made by schools and universities to rebuild shattered dreams

Suhib Alwadi, a pupil at Newman Catholic College in Harlesden, London, escaped the bombing in Syria 18 months ago. He arrived in London with his mother, brother and two sisters to join his father. “It was dangerous in Syria. People were being killed,” he said.

Alwadi, who is 14, now speaks good English and has ambitions to be a computer programme designer, explaining: “My favourite subject is maths and I want to go to university. I will go back to Syria. My grandmother is still there.”

Newman College has been taking children from Syrian refugee families for the last two years, according to head teacher Danny Coyle: “We actively recruit them. We have a reputation for welcoming them. We provide a Saturday school and English classes. They are brilliant children. Once they master English, they take off academically. They have made it a better school.”