In June the first bell rang in the Union school for Ukrainian children refugees in Wroclaw that was opened in 2022. Among these graduates are children from Debaltseve, Myrgorod, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, Znamianka, Kramatorsk, Kherson, Izium, Vilniansk, and Svitlodarsk. All of these children have gone through a difficult path, but have successfully completed the academic year.

Now they are moving on to the next stage of their lives - all thirteen eleventh-grader students are in the process of applying to higher education. Except for one student who chose to study in the Czech Republic, all graduates are entering Polish higher education institutions. As the financial situation in some of our graduates' families is quite difficult, some of them have chosen higher education institutions that allow them to combine studying and working. However, all of the students chose further education for a better future.

Children from almost all regions of Ukraine - Kharkiv, Kherson, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Odesa, and other regions - gathered at Union school in Wroclaw. With the participation of the Zimin Foundation the school united a total of 206 children, each with their own story. What unites them is that they all left Ukraine after the start of the war. And all the children have in Ukraine their relatives, friends, and acquaintances. All children left in Ukraine their school stories, beloved teachers, and classmates. 

Understanding how difficult it is for these children teachers and psychologists did everything they could to help them adapt to a new country and give them the opportunity to study in a familiar and comfortable environment, with Ukrainian teachers, and not online, as most Ukrainian children are learning now, but in classrooms, with live communication during breaks, and with common leisure activities after classes. Over the course of this year, the children in school got to know each other, became not only friends but a big school family. 

The teachers and psychologists who accompanied them throughout the year made every effort to help the children cope with the events happening at home in Ukraine, gain self-confidence and hope for the future, and despite the war, remain children. They organized for them psychological training and business games and visits of well-known Ukrainian bands visited our school to sing and interact with the children. 

You can follow Union school here.

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