Ukrainian who spoke no English celebrates GCSEs

Roman and mum Svitlana moved to Coventry two years ago after being displaced by the war in Ukraine

A Ukrainian teenager who only started learning English two years ago plans to celebrate getting his GCSE results with pizza and a new computer game.

Roman, 16, came to Coventry with mum Svitlana after Russian forces gave them a day to leave the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine.

He sat exams in five subjects at West Coventry Academy, including maths, English and construction, and hopes to become a car mechanic.

"I'm definitely treating my son with whatever he wants," Svitlana said, after he opened his results envelope live on BBC CWR, having, she explained, started "from the bottom" learning English.

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When the family left Ukraine they fled to Poland, gaining a visa to move to the UK.

"The envelope doesn't matter to me," Svitlana said of the results. "I'm already proud of him, it was a great job."

His highest grade was a three in maths, the equivalent of a D under the former GCSE grading system.

Roman said: "When I came here I don’t know English I just know 'hello' and 'bye'.

"Now I can speak English with my friends, with my auntie, with my brother."

The car-obsessed teen said he had done better in his GCSEs than he expected and was looking forward to enrolling at Coventry College to study vehicle mechanics.

"I done my best, my very best – everything is better than I would like," he explained.

He described Coventry as "a great city" and predicted he would be "a great mechanic".

A tearful Svitlana said she would call to update her parents straight away, who had chosen to remain in Sumy.

"They're still in [danger]," she said. "We call them every day but really worried about them."