Schools in Newcastle are coming under financial pressure because money allocated to them for teaching refugee children is not always arriving with the youngster, say education officials.

There are about 450 overseas youngsters at schools in the city, with the Department for Education and Skills allocating �500 per child.

However, education officers are saying it can take as long as five months for money to arrive.

They fear proposed government changes to the way asylum seekers are funded could see resources squeezed further.

Immediate money

A report out by the Ethnic Minority, Travellers and Related Achievement (EMTRA) service in Newcastle has found resources at schools are being stretched.

David Clegg, principal refugee adviser on Newcastle education authority, said: "Schools receive a �500 payment for a registered refugee or asylum seeker.

"We would like that money to be made immediately accessible to the schools, but often the money follows the child.

"The Department for Education and Skills seems to have delivered the money at two points in the school year.

"Children can be at school for five months before money arrives."

The money is used to help provide English language provision, overcome trauma, and to help children integrate into schools on Tyneside.

He said there were worries that when the government opened its proposed regional centres for refugees it could mean less funding for newly-arriving refugees.

Home Secretary David Blunkett has proposed plans to educate children of asylum seekers in segregated centres.

'Integrating well'

But Mr Clegg said: "The government plans are still unclear, and there are concerns that might be at the cost of refugee children.

"There might be a cost implication for refugee children's education.

"Apart from that, children are integrating very well into the mainstream education in Newcastle and enjoying life in mainstream schools, where they are being welcomed."

Mr Clegg said he recently met one African girl who was being treated as "a special guest" at her Tyneside school.