Ukrainian refugee who fled to Brighton secures place at UCL

Grisha Sheldunov, who fled Ukraine in February with his mum and younger brother after the start of the Russian invasion, will study chemistry at UCL after becoming one of 20 pupils to be accepted for a free scholarship at Brighton College.

He had already started his first year of university in Ukraine and secured a place to study at the university with help and support from college staff.

He will move to London on Saturday before starting at UCL in September.

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Grisha said: "Lots of people wanted to help me, it was quite surprising as we didn’t have this sort of help available in Ukraine, the culture is different.

"I was surprised by how willing everyone is to help and everyone has been so friendly.

"A lot of people ask me what I want to do once I graduate, but it’s hard for me to know what I’ll be doing in a month.

"I can’t say what I’m hoping for in the next three or four years except that I want to continue doing things I like and I hope doing those things will help my country at some point – although I can’t think of how exactly I will do it, but it will be great to help people."

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Grisha said it was easier than he expected to adjust to life in the UK and hopes to return to Ukraine one day, where his father, grandparents and many of his friends still live.

He said: "Changing what I was used to was hard, but if you don’t have a choice you don’t think about being introverted. It wasn’t that hard because a lot of people here are nice and wanted to help me, so that introverted part was easy to ignore.

"I have friends and relatives in Ukraine and my home is there, so of course I would love to go back and I would love to help in rebuilding Ukraine when things are more normal again.

"I would love to use the things I learn here – that’s the beauty of education in different parts of the world, you can then help people in your home."

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Brighton College, one of the country’s top schools, opened free scholarship places for children aged between five and 17 for those forced to flee Ukraine after the outbreak of hostilities.

The college reported 99 per cent of grades at A* to B, with 60 per cent at grade.

Some 79 pupils received A* grades in at least three A levels.

A spokesman for the school said: “We are delighted to have helped Grisha gain a place at UCL to help realise his aspirations of doing well after having to leave Ukraine.”

Grisha fled from Ukraine at the start of hostilities in February

Among those celebrating with Grisha today is the school’s head boy, Shaun Pexton, who has secured a place at Yale University in the United States after gaining five A* grades in chemistry, physics, maths, further maths and history.

He will be joined by 15 others crossing the pond to continue their studies.

Headmaster Richard Cairns said: “It was always going to be a challenge for this year’s cohort because they had no previous GCSE exam experience, so it is wonderful that they have risen to the challenge, smashing the record in 2019 when exams were last sat in person.

“Nearly all Brighton College pupils have secured places at top universities. 24 received Oxbridge offers but it is noticeable that there has been a real shift in emphasis towards the United States, with 16 heading off to North America.”