OC Leads Local Initiative to Support Ukrainian Families

OC Caroline Quill (née Redman, OC 1993) has led the effort in and around Mayfield village to resettle dozens of Ukrainian refugee families across Wealden Council. Caroline, a Delivery Assurance Project Director with aerospace and engineering firm Thales UK, has been working voluntarily with Mayfield and Five Ashes Community Services (MAYFACS) and other local authority services to rehome Ukranian families across the region, making Wealden the district council welcoming the most refugees in the UK. Caroline and MAYFACS were profiled on BBC Southeast Today last April at the beginning of this initiative along with some of the families who have been helped by their efforts. 

Mayfield School has been working with Caroline and has been delighted to welcome a number of girls hosted by local families to continue their education here.  The School's International English Department has provided English lessons to the Ukrainian families staying in the village as part of this initiative.  The visiting families, whose English language experience varied from complete beginner to upper-intermediate, have been very keen to learn and this has been an important element of their integration into the village. The teaching has also been challenging as Ukrainian uses the Cyrillic rather than the Latin alphabet, and Miss Rakowska has been extremely helpful in becoming a de facto member of the department to work with the complete beginners. The enthusiasm and positivity across the classes have been fantastic!

To further support families affected by the situation in Ukraine, Mayfield pupils, The Friends of Mayfield School (our volunteer organisation of current parents) and staff have joined together to raise much-needed funds through a variety of activities at school. The proceeds are being donated to the charity chosen by the School community, CAFOD, who work with partner charity, Caritas, helping directly within Ukraine.  

To follow their progress and/or make a donation, please click here to follow the link to the Mayfield Chaplaincy JustGiving page.