Welsh teacher invited to 10 Downing Street by Prime Minister
Sophie Dark, a Year Six teacher at YGG Pontybrenin in Swansea, attended the launch of a UK Government initiative that twins British and Ukrainian schools with some of her pupils.
The programme, part of the UK-Ukraine 100 Year Partnership launched by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in January, aims to strengthen ties between the two countries.
Ms Dark said: "It was an incredible, surreal experience.
"I had to get the kids to pinch me because it was something I hadn't expected, and to be able to give that opportunity to the students as well is something that I, and certainly they, won't forget."
YGG Pontybrenin is one of more than 750 schools from the UK and Ukraine that applied to take part in the scheme.
The school has been paired with a school in Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine.
The children have already started exchanging videos and letters, finding common bonds despite the war in Ukraine.
Ms Dark explained: "For us, with the school we're linked with in Kryvyi Rih, we've been exchanging videos and in those videos we've seen sirens go off in the background, so our students have got an understanding of what is going on in Ukraine.
"But our students know the children in Kryvyi Rih are safe and they know they are giving those children hope that there is life outside of Ukraine and that there is life outside of the war and the conflict."
The children from YGG Pontybrenin, along with pupils from St Marie's Catholic Primary School & Nursery in Rugby, and English Martyrs Catholic Primary School, attended the event hosted by minister for Europe Stephen Doughty.
They will also mark the launch of a new commemorative stamp, designed by both the UK and Ukrainian governments.
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Belfast Telegraph
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Glasgow Times
35 minutes ago
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