School gives Ukrainian children 'sense of identity'

A new Saturday school is helping Ukrainian children build their confidence and a "sense of identity", a teacher says.

Charity Ukraine Aid and Welfare offers classes on Ukrainian language, literature, history and geography in Bristol and has now expanded into South Gloucestershire.

About 40 children aged 5-14 have signed up for school sessions subsidised by South Gloucestershire Council at St Michael's Centre in Stoke Gifford.

"For a lot of kids it's quite hard to integrate in the community, speaking from experience myself. I think having this Ukrainian community to always fall back on gives them a lot of confidence," teacher Sofiia Biliavska added.

The school was first set up in Westbury-on-Trym after some children who came to the UK as refugees were too young to have properly learned their native language, so could not communicate with loved ones back home.

"If they go back it will be quite easy for them to integrate into society so we're thinking with a long-term perspective," Biliavska said.

Parents at the school said they wanted their children to keep hold of their heritage.

Speaking about his eight-year-old, Oleksandr said: "We would like her to continue learning the Ukrainian language, to learn Ukrainian national things, to know who she is, who she's from.

"Knowing from parents is OK, but knowing from a group of other Ukrainians is better."

And Hanna, another parent, said her daughter often forgot Ukrainian words.

"She's asking me what language you are using," she said.

"We would like to remember about our home," Hanna added.

Biliavska, who is 18 years old, moved to the UK in May 2022 and teaches children Ukrainian and science.

"Many of them are either Ukrainian themselves or have Ukrainian parents so it allows them to connect families really well and have a sense of identity early on," she added.

The classes have been approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Antonina Grebeniuk, founder of Ukraine Aid and Welfare, said: "This is so important for preserving the national identity, our culture, Ukrainian language, it is really what we all need to do."

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