A Cork secondary school principal has pitched the idea of establishing a Ukrainian school with specialised Ukrainian teachers in Cork with the Department of Education.

The idea was pitched by Coláiste Éamann Rís principal Aaron Wolfe, whose school currently has 25 Ukrainian students.

Finance Minister Michael McGrath visited the Cork city secondary school last Friday to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Wolfe said Minister McGrath’s visit was very successful. 

“Minister McGrath called to the school to meet our Ukrainian students and to mark the one year anniversary of the escalation of the war in Ukraine. It was a very successful visit. He toured around the school and he spoke to our first year students about the work of government. 

"We are also due a big extension and he was looking at the plans. It was great to see the politicians taking an interest in what the schools are doing,” he said.

The secondary school principal said he has pitched the idea to the department regarding the establishment of a Ukrainian school in Cork. “We have pitched the idea to the Department of Education that they might consider running a Ukrainian school in Cork. We have been involved in an Erasmus project and we have been going around looking at different countries and how they welcome refugees. In Germany what they do is they keep students together and they carry on doing their own curriculum.

“We are proposing that we can put the Ukrainians in the same class with Ukrainian teachers. 

"We have proposed that if they can put modular buildings in, we will supply the land,” he added.

Mr Wolfe said their 25 Ukrainian students have settled in ‘very well’ into their new educational surroundings in Cork city. “The Ukrainian students who are mostly in Junior School have adapted so well into their new school environment. They have been welcomed with open arms. It shows the open mindedness of young people and how inclusive teenagers are. It also shows how they realise and recognise the struggles these children are going through. They have settled in very well. They are great students. They like it here but they want to go home.”