Settlement Workers in Schools
Burnaby School District
Welcome to the Burnaby School District
Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) Program extends its warm welcome to all newcomer students and families who live and study in Burnaby!
Burnaby’s SWIS Program provides settlement support to all immigrant and refugee student and families, effectively connects them with resources in their schools and communities.
Settlement workers cover all 49 Burnaby schools, speak 17 languages, and have firsthand experience and extensive expertise in settlement counselling. Since its inception in 2007, the SWIS Program has provided services to tens of thousands of newcomers, who are now successfully settled and proudly call themselves Canadians.
If you are new in Burnaby and are unsure from where to start, please contact your school’s settlement worker or call our District Welcome Centre at 604-296-6936.
Meet the SWIS Team
The Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) program is a free, school-based settlement service for immigrants and refugees with school-aged children. It supports families during their settlement in Canada by supporting them with their immediate and long term settlement needs.
A message from a private sponsor of refugee families
“That I can contribute just a wee amount to the joy and meaningful success of three families, means so much to making my life more meaningful and joyful. I am deeply blessed.
I have worked as closely as I’ve been able in the past six years with three Newcomer Families, who came as Refugees. I am awed by their resourcefulness, courage, hardworking ethic, but almost more than all of this, their trust and, loving attitude towards those who are working to help them settle in this, their new home.
We are blessed as Canadians, to have these Newcomers make their homes in Canada. They are dedicated to their families’ well-being, education and future opportunities.”
Jen-Beth