Escaping war zones … not once, but twice

International Student Series

Longridge Towers School is developing a reputation across the globe for its schooling of international students who come to Northumberland to complete their education.

In recent years, Longridge has been home to children from as far afield as China and South Africa, Spain and Germany to Russia and Ukraine and even La Rèunion, the French island in the Indian Ocean.

To learn more about our international students, and share insight with families thinking about an education in the UK, we are sharing their different stories, from escaping wars or the rigidity of a Chinese education to opening up new opportunities, and we explore how they feel about their moves to Longridge, dealing with trauma and changing life course in their teens.

Escaping one war is quite a feat, but to escape two puts Mark’s story in a world of its own

When war breaks out the wider public can forget about the damage done to children and their futures, as education takes a back seat to protecting lives, and for Mark’s mother Marina the decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine on 24 February 2022 meant serious decisions had to be made.

Mark’s parents are divorced and Marina made the decision in 2022, when Mark was just 13, to leave the country in an effort simply to keep them safe. Mark moved to an international school in Israel but, within three years, bombing between Israel and Palestine intensified. His mother, now working in the UK, had to act again. She contacted schools across England and Longridge was the first to step up and offer Mark a scholarship and route to a much safer destination.

‘Quite traumatic waking up to run to a shelter in the middle of the night’

Asked about the traumatic effect of finding himself in war zones, Mark, a contemplative lad, thought for a moment before replying.

“I wouldn’t say I’m traumatised in the way that I’m anxious or flinching or something. But, yes, it’s quite a traumatic experience when you have to wake up and run to a shelter in the middle of the night. That’s not very enjoyable.

“Being in a war is not something I ever thought I’d experience in my lifetime, but it’s much more difficult for the people still in Kyiv, or in Israel and Gaza.

“When it started in Ukraine, I was like everyone else and thought it would be over in a month, so, even when I left, I didn’t think it would be forever. Now, I just don’t see a way that it will end.

“But I am happy that I have been able to concentrate on my studies here. I find Longridge and the place around here very peaceful, very friendly and a much safer place to be. In Israel, people tend to be very loud and shout a lot of the time. It’s very different here.”

‘Best school I’ve ever been to’

Now 17, Mark joined Longridge as a boarder in September 2025 and has become a popular character among staff and students. He is a quiet, thoughtful person who many in Senior School look up to, though most have little knowledge of his journey to the north of England.

“I am very pleased that I came here,” he says. “My mum has helped me a lot and I owe her a lot, because Longridge is the best school I have ever been to.

“So, I want to make her proud of course. I also have a brother Sasha who left Ukraine and now works as a translator in Poland, and so we are a happier family now.

“It was really hard, academically, to study in a completely different language and to pick up different subjects in Israel and then to do the same when I started here, but, after a stressful first few months, I’m enjoying it now.”

‘I can now think about my future without worrying’

He is also now looking forward with more confidence to what the future might hold.

“Now, I can think about my future without worrying about a war,” Mark added. “I am thinking about going to university and studying for a degree and I don’t think I would be doing that if I was still in Ukraine or Israel.

“I don’t have an idea of what that might look like yet. I think just two or three years of just feeling settled would be nice.”

Mark has had to do a lot of growing up in a short space of time, a very different teenage existence to many of his peers, but Longridge is helping him reach a place of peace.