She heard back from all but two families and further investigation revealed these two children were from refugee families where there was no written English at home.

"I thought to myself, 'how are they dealing with all the communication from school, let alone homework and the like?'," Ms Ayton said.

So the school, St John the Apostle Primary School in Florey, invited all the families of African background in for a dinner. The children decorated the hall, a Sudanese catering company handled the food, all the teachers were present and they said to the parents, "What is it that we can do for you?"

"And they all said, 'We need help to help our kids with their homework'," Ms Ayton says.

That was four years ago and now the homework club runs at St Francis Xavier College, where 30 or so students from St Johns and St Francis Xavier, children from kindergarten to year 10, gather and get help with their homework, and help each other.

It's about more than homework. It's about creating a sense of belonging for the refugee families, mainly from African backgrounds, in a school environment and the wider community.

Ms Ayton is a teacher at St Francis Xavier College, and still a parent at St Johns. She knows first hand that for these families the support they are getting from the school community has been crucial in their resettlement process. There are close to 80 refugee students across the two schools, mainly from the South Sudan and other African countries.

"It's about the families identifying what they need and then being able to provide whatever resources we can to help them," she says.

One such family is the Machiridzas. Father Felix, a journalist, political activist and vocal opponent of the Mugabe government at the peak of its dictatorship, fled Zimbabwe in 2010. He left his three children, Christabel, 16, Clarence, 15, and Clarice, 10, for four years, but always knew they would be reunited and in 2014, they joined him here in Canberra.

The children, who attend the two schools, Christabel is in year 10 at St Francis, Clarence is in year 8 and Clarice is in year 4 across the road at St Johns, have been attending the homework club and are flourishing.

"I can not put a value on what Leilah and her team do," says Felix.

"The connections and friendships they are able to make are very crucial in their resettling process.

"My children have been here two years now and because of their participation in that program it has helped them to settle much better than I had anticipated.

"I see the benefits of it every day."

All three children are vibrant and chatty. Christabel loves helping the younger children with their reading, Clarice has made many new friends at homework club.

Clarence admits he enjoys the basketball program more, another initiative the school's set up with the help of former basketball great Cal Bruton and Marymead.

Bruton says sport is a great way to build a community. Over the nine-week program, he's seen great changes in the 40 children who have participated.

"I'm not here to unearth the next great basketball player - but there is a handful who can play the game to a high level - it's about working together, discipline, communication," Bruton says.

"It's about scoring goals, but it's more about setting goals."

Ms Ayton was recently recognised during ACT Children's Week where she won an award for the work she has been doing with the refugee families.

"Every day I see these kids smile and I know we're doing a good thing," she says.