4 September 2026
Life in Ukraine for Yaroslav
Yaroslav is a Ukrainian pupil studying at Ryde.
After finishing his GCSEs, he went back to Ukraine to see his family, returning to the reality of his country's war with Russia.
While in Ukraine, Yaroslav met with our Marketing and Communications Manager, Matt White, via video call, to discuss his experiences of war and his remarkable academic turnaround.
Another day, another warning of Russian drones and missiles nearby.
On this occasion, the email alert arrived while Yaroslav was on a video call, reporting back to Ryde School about 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.
He saw a 10m Russian rocket fly overhead during a trip to the beach and 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 summer, often making it too dangerous for him to leave his house.
But despite the dangers, the war has become a ‘lifestyle’ for Yaroslav and his family, one they have all adapted to, and the spirit of the Ukrainian people has meant going home has still been positive.
“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 that 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.
“Yet we can still have a great time. My father and other football enthusiasts organise mini matches, where the winning team gets the 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.”
While the scars of war continue to impact life in Ukraine, it has not stopped Yaroslav celebrating a remarkable turnaround in his academic achievements.
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 the family to make it 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.
When Yaroslav started at Ryde, he arrived late in the term and with very little experience of the curriculum, so used the first year to settle in and master the English language, before setting himself an ambitious challenge.
“It’s hard to explain but when I arrived, it just felt like the right place for me,” he said.
“There’s nothing like Ryde in Ukraine. It has 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 exam 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, just a couple of months before Year 11.
“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 in 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 2026 highest achievers.
He has now returned to Ryde to study Maths, Further Maths and Physics at Sixth Form.
We are incredibly proud of you, Yaroslav.
