A number of secondary schools in the Netherlands are finding it hard to cope with the arrival of so many new child refugees, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.

The problem is particularly acute in areas where large numbers of refugees have been placed. Refugee children are first placed in a special class to learn Dutch but these classes are filled to bursting point in towns with refugee centres.

The paper says schools are not given any additional funding for refugees who arrived in the country after October 1 and in some cases schools are having to find tens of thousands of euros themselves.

One school in Eindhoven which had 140 children in special classes now has 200, the Volkskrant says. This has cost €400,000 to pay for extra teachers and facilities.

Some schools are even refusing to accept new pupils even though this is not allowed by law, the Volkskrant says.

The education ministry told the paper that schools which are finding it hard to cope can appeal for extra cash and it is currently in talks with three schools about more funding.