Counselling from Warzone to Diaspora

Practical advice for when a crisis unfolds

On Thursday 13th April we held our Leavers Assembly at Khartoum International Community School (KICS) and our 24 Year 13 students went home to prepare for their forthcoming IB Diploma exams, due to start a fortnight later. Everyone else left to enjoy a lazy weekend as the final week of Ramadan commenced, looking forward to the Eid break.

On the morning of 15th April fighting broke out between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) , a powerful paramilitary group, and the Sudanese army. Shelling and bombing reverberated all over the capital city as the airport, presidential palace and bridges were overrun by the RSF.  Our students and staff sheltered in place for more than a week. That was the beginning of the Khartoum War, which continues to this day.

Since that time, our school has been closed, with no chance of reopening in the foreseeable future, given the ruin and destruction of the city. Our Sudanese students, who all left the country, are mainly in Cairo and Dubai, with international students relocated all over the world.

Our IBDP coordinator swiftly contacted the IBO and explained that the IB Diploma exams would have to be cancelled. Fortunately for our Year 13 students, they were given the choice to either resit in November, or accept the grades of a non-exam route based on a combination of Predicted Grades sent to the IBO in March and their coursework. All but one of them chose to accept the grades, which they received on July 6th .

KICS had two College Counsellors and we were in constant touch with the IB students by email and whatsapp. For the Year 13s, we wrote to all their universities explaining the circumstances, hoping for some leniency, as there were several students whose Predicted Grades were some way below their potential grade in the exams. We were really happy to receive sympathetic and understanding responses from all the university admissions officers and all our students ended up being happily placed.

But our biggest concern was the Year 12 students, whose IB journey had been cut in half.

We stayed in very close contact with them. Advising them on recommended pathways, writing references for school applications in Cairo and Dubai, contacting admissions officers and reaching out to their new College Counsellors. We also wrote supplemental recommendations for their USA college applications on Commonapp, explaining the difficulties our students have faced.  With the new format of UCAS references, we sent in responses to Questions 2 and 3 regarding preparation for the course and any extenuating circumstances.

From the Class of 2024

• Six students were able to secure places on Foundation Courses in the UK or Egypt.
• One student was unable to continue with his studies due to the trauma of the war and is taking a Gap year.
• One student enrolled in an IB school in Cairo (MES) but was made to restart the course, losing
• a year, despite being a top student.
• One student enrolled in Y13 in an IB school in Kenya
• Three students enrolled in Y13 at an IB school in Rome and their College counsellor reached out to us before we contacted him.
• Six students enrolled in Year 13 at three different IB schools in Egypt
• Five students enrolled in Year 13 at the same IB school in Dubai

Whilst professional and trained College Counsellors, it should be noted that Samia was also a founder of KICS and Reem had worked there in numerous senior and counselling roles, since its inception in 2005.

Since the war we have set up an IEC, RS-Educational Consultants, working out of Dubai. We continue to support our Year 13 students in their new schools, free of charge, sending references to their new CCs, helping them with their college lists, college essays and personal statements.

What we learned and can pass on to others to help them in future situations of uncertainty. 

General: 

• Prioritise student well-being. Reassure parents and students and have frequent check-ins. This is an existential crisis for families. 

On the fourth day of the conflict while we were still in Khartoum, we sent an email via Managebac reminding parents that the priority needs to be well-being, and not trying to study for exams, and doing what they need to do to feel safe physically, mentally and emotionally. Finding ways to self-soothe at this time is key. Some may find this in the ability to work, and several do not. The constant sound of gunfire and air raids, as well as the fear of stray bullets hitting houses, looting or house occupation means even if our kids can start to study, they are not able to stay focused. They knew that some of their friends’ houses have been hit, they are struggling with inconsistent news reports, rumours, power cuts and so on. Other self-soothing techniques could be spiritual, physical exercise, reading, and staying close to loved ones. 

• Keep track of where students and families went.
  • We did this via WhatsApp and email.  

• Prepare transcripts as soon as is agreed upon with the school. Families will be anxious to apply to new schools as soon as possible to secure their child’s place. 

Class of 2023: Immediate Outreach

• We emailed UCAS immediately and explained the situation to them and also contacted students’ Firm and Insurance choices. 
• We emailed US universities
  • Include Student ID numbers and DoB
• Updated CommonApp for Extenuating Circumstances. 

• Zoom meetings with school counsellors for the Class of 2023. 
  • We were able to assist in the transition of our students by giving holistic background information to counsellors.
  • Some schools would not accept a transfer student and insisted they start in DP 1 again; in spite of officially completing IBDP 1.
• Ongoing support for the Class of 2023 until all applications were submitted. 
• Because we maintained contact with UCAS, we were able to still use our school centre until the end of the academic year and support the reapplications for three of our Class of 2023 students. 
• Sought out financial support -unsuccessfully-as we had many KICS IB Scholarship students from Sudan.

Class of 2024 and Class of 2025

• Researched possible schools for the Class of 2024.
  • We were able to do this as we had updates of which countries families relocated to 
• Helped families make decisions about which schools to enrol in, researching reviews, school reputation, rankings, accreditations, school history, IBDP subjects, subject combinations available, and well-being support. 
• Reached out to school leaders and counsellors to explain our situation and ask for support of our students. We worked collaboratively with school counsellors and leaders, so that we could ensure students were getting the well-being support they needed as well as work together in the reference writing/letters of recommendation of these students that we know very well.
• The Class of 2024  were due to receive an initial set of predicted grades at the end of the school year. In hindsight we should have issued them early with their transcripts. This would have further helped their academic transition.

As a Counsellor, you will also have to be prepared to send in many, many references for students as they apply to new schools. 

Takeaways:

• Well-being first (Maslow before Bloom)
• To give solid advice; do the research
• Collaboration-The international school community is compassionate. 
• Don’t expect that all will listen
• Not all schools offer the same courses. Transition can be hard.
• We spoke with the schools to ensure that students were receiving sufficient trauma support in the classroom. This promoted school leaders to contact the IB and arrange for mitigating circumstances and extensions with the EE and also internal deadlines.