How a reading partnership with Ukraine helps our pupils

Every week my mixed Year 1 and 2 pupils gather excitedly for one of their favourite activities - reading stories with pupils in Ukraine via a video call.

In the early weeks of this, the teachers would read the story and then set a creative task designed to inspire talk about the story and develop comprehension. But very quickly the pupils themselves became the readers, taking it in turns to read parts of the story.

This UK-Ukraine Reading for Pleasure Partnership is part of the wider UK-Ukraine School Partnerships programme and we have been taking part in it for almost a year now, alongside some 100 other schools across the UK and Ukraine, to boost pupils’ reading skills, confidence and international awareness.

The above is just a snapshot of what we have done - we have also read local folk tales, discussed books, learned about the hardship of war, and seen pupils in both countries engage and make friends with one another.

Connections through reading

At a time when reading for pleasure is in decline, the project has created real excitement around books. Every story becomes something to share with another class in a different country rather than simply another lesson.

What’s more, we ask children to respond to the story not with written work but through discussion, drawing and storytelling.

The children then explain what they have illustrated and why it matters to them, helping them to develop confidence, comprehension, expressive language skills and a much deeper emotional connection to the stories they read.

Every child wants to be one of those chosen to either read on the video call or share a piece of work.

It’s been amazing to see children who find it harder to read independently creatively engaging with stories being read by others and develop their understanding in that way.

Learning about a different culture

Perhaps the greatest impact has been helping children to understand that other children live very different lives while also discovering how much they have in common.

Our pupils have learned about Ukrainian culture, heard the Ukrainian language and shared aspects of their own lives in return.

The realities of the war have also become part of those conversations in age-appropriate ways. Sometimes sessions are cancelled because of power cuts, school closures or safety concerns.

Rather than reading about conflict in a news report, children begin to understand that these events affect real children they know. That has helped to build empathy in a way that no classroom lesson could.

It also underlines why partnerships like this matter so much. At a time when Ukrainian schools continue to face enormous disruption, maintaining these connections provides something positive, consistent and hopeful for children on both sides.

Language as a shared experience

Our partner teacher, Oksana, reads stories in Ukrainian while I read them in English.

The Ukrainian children hear fluent English, while my class experiences another language being spoken naturally.

Although there is a slight age difference between the groups, this works well in practice because the Ukrainian pupils’ developing English language skills mean there is a more equal level of reading ability. This enables both groups to participate confidently and benefit from the shared learning experience.

The project has shown our children that language differences are something to be celebrated rather than feared.

Rethinking teaching

Professionally, this has probably been one of the most valuable projects I’ve been involved in.

By taking part, I was able to attend the opening conference in Poland, where teachers from the UK and Ukraine explored ways to make reading more engaging.

We received training from the National Literacy Trust on reading for pleasure, support to help pupils who speak English as an additional language, and support with trauma-informed practice.

With six children in my class speaking English as an additional language, this has encouraged me to think much more carefully about language accessibility and inclusion.

Working with Oksana has also been an inspiration. We have shared ideas and teaching practice and begun to explore different ways of doing things with our own pupils, showing that professional learning can flow in international partnership projects.

More than a reading project

Although the project is centred on books, it has become about much more than reading.

It has built friendships, encouraged curiosity and helped children to understand the wider world through real human connections.

Perhaps most importantly, this is designed to be a long-term partnership rather than a one-off project.

In a world where conflict can so easily divide communities, helping children to connect through stories feels like one of the simplest and most powerful things schools can do.

Rosie McKay is a class teacher at Dartmouth Academy, part of Education South West