”Alla barn har gnistan inom sig, det enda som behövs är att lyckas tända den”

Sammanfattning: The main purpose of this study was to increase the knowledge about how it is to be a newly arrived refugee in the Swedish school as well as what role the Swedish school plays in the integration process. The respondents in this study have all arrived to Sweden in the past four years as refugees from war-torn countries. In total seven young people in the age 15-16 took part in this study. How do the newly arrived youths experience the time in the preparatory class and the ordinary class? Which social networks does the newly arrived youths have in and outside school? How can the school help them by giving them skills and ability to integrate into the Swedish society? To find the answers to these questions I made a qualitative study. The study is based on interviews with seven young people who are attending Swedish upper secondary (8th or 9th grade) or are in preparatory class. To be able to analyze my qualitative interviews I used three theories; stigmatization, social identity and sociocultural perspective. The results of the survey show that the newly arrived students both have positive and negative experiences of the Swedish school. The newly arrived students experience the time in preparatory class as safe, they have a big community with their classmates and get support and help from their teachers. At the same time, they feel excluded, both in preparatory and ordinary class, due to the lack of wider social networks. According to the students the Swedish school has more to improve when it comes to giving the newly arrived youth’s greater opportunities in the integration process.