Ukrainian students in Manitoba prepare for new school year: ‘I’m really excited’

Students across Manitoba are preparing to go back to school this week. Among them, are children from Ukraine, who are excited for the new experience and opportunity. Alex Karpa reports.

By Alex Karpa

Families across Manitoba are starting to prepare for school as students go back to the classroom this week.

For hundreds of Ukrainian refugee kids, it’s going to be a completely new environment from what they are used to.

Kseniia Chaikovska is going into her final year of high school, set to complete her senior year at Winnipeg’s Miles Mac Collegiate.

“I’m really excited. It’s my first time studying in Canada,” she explained.

“It’s like a new experience, great experience, new people. Canadians are really friendly to me. I like being in Canada.”

Family left everything behind in Ukraine

Chaikovska and her mom Olha arrived in Winnipeg on June 16, leaving everything they had and knew behind.

Chaikovska says she is thankful to be studying in Canada and she wants to continue her education and become a psychologist, to help others.

“I want to work with disabled people, because I know how difficult it is to be a disabled person, and I want to help other disabled people to get their lives better.”

Inna Sirko and her two children, Sophia and Maksym, arrived in Winnipeg in June as well, leaving their home in Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine. Maksym is going into Grade 6 and Sophia is starting kindergarten.

“We are excited to visit school and to get to know teachers, new kids and the new approaches, it’s very interesting to us,” said Sirko.

Several schools across Winnipeg and Manitoba have been accepting Ukrainian refugees since Russia’s war on Ukraine began in February.

School helping with uniforms, supplies

Rod Picklyk, the principal of Immaculate Heart of Mary School, says they are bringing in more than 40 new students from Ukraine, which is about a quarter of the school’s student body.

“We’re looking after their school fees, providing school uniforms and school supplies, so really just trying to help them get a strong start here in Canada,” said Picklyk.

Picklyk says they have been working extremely hard to provide additional support to help the new students feel welcomed in the classroom. He says the priority and focus is to help the students from Ukraine learn English.

“We have a whole EAL, English as an additional language programming piece that we have put in place. A number of staff will be pulling the children out in small groups and specifically helping them with those nuisances of the English language, so a lot of supports to help them along.”

Chaikovska says she’s thankful for the opportunity she is being given.

“It’s difficult but it’s interesting for me. Thank you for the help. Thank you to the Canadian people, you are very friendly to Ukrainian people.”

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