Ukraine School in Cambridge opens its doors with demand four times expectations
The initial estimate for the number of pupils at the Ukraine School in Cambridge was 30 - but by the time it opened its doors at Jesus Lane Friends Meeting House 120 had registered.
The two-week pilot for the school demonstrated the eagerness among Ukrainian children and their parents to study in their own language, learning their own history and culture. And it serves a deeper purpose - to bring together children whose families left Ukraine following the 2022 invasion by Russia and allow them to talk, learn and play together.
Founded by Rend Platings of Mums4Ukraine, the initiative began teaching with a team led by Olha Syvenko.
“I feel very inspired as I’m the head teacher there and the mother of one of the pupils,” Olha told the Cambridge Independent. “I am very grateful to all those who have helped organise it as we now have the possibility not to lose the Ukrainian language, not to lose Ukrainian culture.
“The children go to an English school but it’s important that Ukrainian children can meet each other and talk, a lot of them have many challenges, which can cause psychological problems and of course they miss their native friends and native culture and this school can help with this problem.”
The school, which opened on May 20, was initially conceived in a WhatsApp group of more than 600 Ukrainans living in the region.
“Rend wrote me a private message asking me about myself,” says Olha. “I didn’t expect anyone to offer me a job, I live in Wicken.
“Of course I cannot say I am happy when there is war in my country but yes I am happy here because it is safe and people around here are very friendly.”
The pupils are all from Ukraine and aged from four to15, with four groups: ages 4-7; 8-10; 11-13; and 14 and 15 for the oldest group.
“We are very grateful to the owner of the premises but it’s a challenge because there are only three rooms, and we’ve divided children into four classes according to their age, so we had one lesson outside - but it’s okay I am grateful to have this opportunity.”
She adds: “There were six teachers for the first day. Two were from a primary school - one was for mathematics, one for science - and one English and one drama teacher.”
Olha has been living in Wicken for a year with her three children - Katya, 20, who is the drama teacher; Nadiia,15; and Mariia, 11. Olha, who has friends and family living in Kyiv, is the English teacher.
“I am an English teacher in Ukraine,” she says. “In Wicken I don’t have a job but I have online lessons with my Ukrainian students, some of them are in the UK but also Austria, Netherlands and around the world.”
The younger two attend Soham Village College while Katya is an online student at a Ukrainian university.
“In KyivI had a theatre studio and I am a psychologist: I conduct consultations for people both online and in-person,” Katya says.
“The first day at the Ukraine School in Cambridge was cool, it was very interesting, with lots of people - lots of children - and what was most interesting for me was that all the children want to talk to each other. They didn’t want to look at their telephones all day, they were just talking, playing and listening to their lessons. so they were all in process.
“The best number of pupils to teach drama to is 10 to 12, but the maximum is 20. It’s very different tasks: to help their body, to improve their diction, to help them to communicate so they can improvise, so they can be more creative in their lives, understand themselves better and understand others better, and more.”
Rend said: “The curriculum is based on the Ukraine Ministry of Education’s guidelines. All teachers are qualified professionals with experience teaching in Ukraine and they are all paid. It is a full school day including a fresh healthy lunch.
“With projects like this school we are investing in Ukraine’s future, Ukraine’s children. More than 120 children are now registered at the school - the first estimate was 30.
“We haven’t got a website yet, there are updates at mums4ukraine.org. I obtained local government funding for the project. A Cambridge City Council grant gave us a £5,000 grant to cover the Ukrainian aid hub in Cherry Hinton - which is for Ukrainian refugees to pick up essential food and clothing supplies - and the school’s pilot.
“The pilot was spec’ed out for 30 pupils with the appropriate number of teachers, and now it’s 120 pupils, which has required extra resources, so the costs have shot up. As a result the pilot lasted two weeks instead of four, and now there’s a pause and we’re looking to get feedback from parents, teachers, children and the council, and decide on the next steps.”
A Cambridge City Council spokesperson said: “We launched the United with Ukraine community grant last year so that community organisations or small groups of residents could run projects just like this to support people from Ukraine living in Cambridge.
“The grant funding can be used for projects that focus on five priority areas: navigating life in the UK, promoting community cohesion and integration, delivering money advice, supporting access to employment, increasing confidence in speaking English, and enhancing wellbeing.
“So far we’ve awarded just over £38,000 to 12 projects, ranging from employment support and entrepreneurship programmes, welcome packs and aid hubs, to wellbeing craft workshops and information sessions that help people navigate life in the UK. The grant remains open for applications, including from groups that have already been awarded funding from the grant who want to reapply."