Meet Dasha, an inspiring pupil from Ukraine sharing her story

My name is Dasha and I’m 11 years old. I came to Langley from Kiev in Ukraine. In my Ukrainian School, I was in Year 6. The school I went to specialised in English, so I learnt English, Ukranian and German language. At school in Ukraine, I had a very friendly class and I have friends who are still in Ukraine that I miss.

On February 24, 2022,  at 6 a.m. my mother got a call from a friend saying that the war had begun. I remember everything by the minute. My mom woke me up and when we woke up we started hearing explosions. I was scared but my mother calmed me down and she quickly started packing up our things to go to the bomb shelter. Since my childhood, I have dreamed of studying at the University of Cambridge, so to make this happen we came to England to improve my English.

When I came to Langley for the first time it was difficult, I was afraid to say something wrong in English thinking that I would not be understood. But at Langley I have made a lot of friends, they all supported me and stopped me from being afraid to speak. I also receive a lot of support from my teachers, they have helped me so much. Lessons with Mr Sears and Mrs Smith, our E.A.L. (English as an Additional Language) staff has helped support me a lot. My favourite subject at Langley is mathematics and my favourite Enrichment activity is Netball. I recently took part in the Netball County Cup U12A tournament which I am very proud of. In my free time, I enjoy attending programming classes.