MP meets students who’ve fled Ukraine
Maidenhead: Claires Court doing ‘its level best’ to help pupils
MP Theresa May paid a visit to a Maidenhead school to meet Ukrainian students who have fled war in their home country.
The former Prime Minister was at Claires Court School in College Avenue on Friday, September 23.
She was invited to speak to the students and understand the challenges that had faced them and their individual circumstances.
The Ukrainian students within the school are supported by Ms Balynets, a qualified teacher and Ukrainian translator employed by Claires Court who also fled Ukraine as a refugee.
James Wilding, academic principal, said: “Community is the absolute heart of who we are at Claires Court and we were determined to do our level best to help those students who had experienced such awful circumstances at home.
“Providing their education is only a small step in this process, welcoming their mothers so they feel included and welcomed has been important too.
“We seem to have provided them, and for many of their fathers back in Ukraine, with the comfort of normality and importantly, the stability of routine and friendship in school.
“This was, and still is, a national emergency and we want to mitigate the upheaval of moving to the UK as much as possible especially at such key points in the childrens’ education.”
Stephanie Rogers, head of sixth form, added: “In addition to the class work, Ms Balynets has been of great help acting as an interpreter between students, their mothers and the school to ease the transition between home and school.”
Four senior students each took time to write a personalised letter to Mrs May, outlining their experiences of the war and how this has affected them, while she was also presented with gifts.
The school has supported raising money for the crisis, organising events including an ‘own clothes’ day, cake sales, sponsored walks and ‘throw the sponge at the teacher’, clocking up in excess of £10,000 which was donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee
(DEC).
Hugh Wilding, principal and bursar, said: “It was our pleasure to invite Mrs May to the school to hear the real life stories of those in her constituency.
“We were so glad that she expressed such an interest in the plight of our students studying here and the children were honoured to have been given the chance to speak directly to her.”