Ukrainian boy who fled war sits GCSE in Welsh
Bohdan Syvak and his family fled Ukraine in March 2022 after Russia's invasion. They spent six weeks in Germany before they moved to Porthcawl, South Wales.
Friday 28 July 2023 17:29, UK
A student who fled the war in Ukraine has sat a GCSE in Welsh, a year since he moved to Wales.
Bohdan Syvak left his home country with his family on 6 March 2022.
They stayed in Germany for six weeks before arriving in Porthcawl, South Wales.
Sixteen-year-old Bohdan has been a pupil at Porthcawl Comprehensive School since June last year.
The school's head of Welsh, Alison Lloyd, spent her lunchtimes helping him learn the language.
He told Sky News he appreciated Mrs Lloyd giving up her lunchtimes to assist him with Welsh.
"It was quite hard but I think I've done quite well with lots of hard work and with Mrs Lloyd's help," he said.
Mrs Lloyd said she was "so proud" of Bohdan's achievements as he has "thrown himself into learning Welsh".
Bohdan had only been living in Wales for 10 months when he sat his first Welsh GCSE exam which assessed his spoken Welsh.
He then had a further three exams which assessed his listening, reading and writing skills.
'Love to carry on learning'
Bohdan "started turning up at lunchtimes just to practise a little bit more", according to his teacher.
"What he's accomplished in such a short space of time and just the fact, like he said, he came over with nothing," Mrs Lloyd told Sky News.
"It was a huge upheaval for him and just how he settled in and just worked hard... I'm really proud of him."
Bohdan intends for this to be just the beginning of his journey to learn Welsh.
"I'd love to carry on learning Welsh," he said.
"I want to speak it as good as English and then give interviews in Welsh as well would be good."
Mrs Lloyd hopes Bohdan's interest in learning Welsh continues when he begins college in September, where he will study football and sport sciences.
"I really hope he does learn some more Welsh and just succeeds in anything he wants to do in the future really and hope his dreams come true," she said.
"Learning Welsh was hard but if you spend time on what you want to do, you will get better," Bohdan said.
"I just thought that I would be good at languages so I just kept practising and felt like I didn't want to live here in Wales and be unable to speak in Welsh.
"I just thought it was a good skill to have and that it's good for you if you know quite a few languages."
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Wales has welcomed 6,400 Ukrainians as of February, almost 3,400 through the Homes for Ukraine scheme and just over 3,000 sponsored by the Welsh government.