4 September 2026
Life in war-torn Ukraine for Ryde pupil Yaroslav
Yaroslav is a Ukrainian pupil studying at Ryde School.
After finishing his GCSEs, he returned to Ukraine to spend the summer with his family.
It was an experience very few of us could ever imagine.
During a video call with our Marketing and Communications Manager, Matt White, Yaroslav shared stories of life in Ukraine, the devastation of its war with Russia, and how he achieved a remarkable turnaround in his exam results.
By Matt White - mwh@rydeshool.net
Another day, another warning of Russian drones and missiles nearby.
On this occasion, the email alert arrived while Yaroslav and I spoke on a video call, shortly after he had discovered his GCSE results. It was impossible not to be distracted by the latest threat.
Ukraine has been at war with Russia for four years, and for the last two, Yaroslav has been a pupil at Ryde, living in our boarding house during term time and heading home to Kharkiv in the holidays. Just this summer, a local village, where Yaroslav and his friends often visited to go swimming, was devastated by a double missile attack, killing ten people and injuring many more.
A building used by Yaroslav's father's company, which was destroyed by a bomb.
Yaroslav saw a 10m Russian rocket fly overhead during a trip to the beach and he often witnessed other missiles being exploded by Ukrainian air defence. The main route to his local church, which he attended every Sunday while at home, was also one of the most targeted areas, with more deaths caused by Russian strikes. The sound of low-flying drones plagued Yaroslav’s entire stay, often making it too dangerous for him to leave his house.
“Generally, I have got used to the terror of the war and I’m not afraid any more,” said Yaroslav.
“There are moments that can still feel very unsafe and intimidating, like the whistling sound of the drones. They fly close to the trees, so you can’t always see them, but you know they are there. At the start of the war, we would see Russian and Ukrainian tanks and other military vehicles passing near our house. They were really close, so we left for a year to live with my aunt in another part of Ukraine.
“Now, it is still bad, but Kharkiv has been at the battlefront of this war for three years, and I’m honoured to live in a hero city. There are vast places you can see have been bombed but there are things open, so I can go to the gym or to a restaurant with my friends and family. But sometimes, when I’m at the gym, a drone might land on the roof or there might be an emergency evacuation from a shopping mall because of an air strike."
Despite the turbulence and devastation, Yaroslav believes his family and Ukrainian people in general have adapted to the ‘lifestyle’ of living in a war. And the spirit local communities have shown in the face of such adversity has made trips home generally happy experiences.
“We can still have a great time," he said. "My father and other football enthusiasts organise mini matches, where the winning team receives a trophy. So many people come to watch, banging their drums and enjoying themselves. Even with everything that’s going on, people can still laugh and have fun and I love how this has made us stronger.”
Yaroslav is remarkably positive, and the turnaround in his academic achievements have been an added tonic this summer. Before joining Ryde, the 17 year old had aspirations of being a YouTuber but, by his own admission, he didn’t see the value of education or gaining good grades. The war, alongside his lack of motivation to study, led Yaroslav’s parents to explore schools overseas and Ryde was able to offer support to his family to make us the destination of choice.
It still wasn’t simple. The conflict has made travel from Ukraine incredibly complicated, with civilian airspace remaining closed, grounding all flights. Yaroslav can only fly to the UK from countries which border Ukraine, so Poland is the closest option. To get there, he has a five-hour car journey from Kharkiv, followed by 15 hours on a train, often sharing a small cabin with strangers. He then has two more car journeys and a hovercraft to navigate before he arrives at Ryde. The trip, taking over 30 hours, is another lifestyle Yaroslav has become accustomed to.
Starting late in the term and arriving with very little experience of the curriculum meant Yaroslav's first year was about settling in and mastering the English language. He then set himself an ambitious challenge.
“It’s hard to explain but when I arrived at Ryde, it just felt like the right place for me,” he said. “There’s nothing like Ryde in Ukraine. It opened a completely different world for me and I realised it was a place where I could achieve something really amazing and it was an opportunity I would not get at home. I was barely passing my Year 10 exams and that was very much down to the lack of studying I did in Ukraine.
“But I knew I could do well if I worked hard, and with my roommate, Finley, we made a decision to aim for grade nines in our GCSEs. We put more thought into our studying, we analysed things on a deeper level and we gave everything to our learning, both in school and back at the boarding house. We spent a lot of our free time on self-education, particularly around neuroscience and philosophy and how it helps with productivity. We made huge improvements, following our ‘Three Work Rule’ of discipline, accepting the struggle and putting our heart and soul into everything. Thankfully, it paid off.”
Yaroslav gained seven GCSEs at grades 8 and 9. His commitment and determination to succeed in his exams made him one of our highest achievers this year. He has now returned to Ryde to study Maths, Further Maths and Physics at Sixth Form.
We are incredibly proud of you, Yaroslav.
