Ukrainian children adapt to a new school year in Simcoe County

Cathy Locke, a Barrie woman who took in a Ukrainian family of 13, is helping them adjust to life in Simcoe County, including the official start to a new school year.

Locke admits mornings are hectic.

"Think of your family. Two kids, think of six, seven, eight kids getting their lunches made," she says.

Eight of the children started school in Barrie this week and have already started to pick up some English.

The youngest six are in Grades 3 through 8 at Timothy Christian School. Mom and dad bring them to the bus stop each morning, where a ride on the big yellow school bus has become the children's favourite time of day.

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Staff at the school say the first two days have gone seamlessly.

"We worked really hard over the last few years to teach our students hospitality, teach them how to welcome people in the community, welcome diversity, so to have a family come in, especially the challenges that they've been through, to have them settle in with us, in with the classroom with the teachers, we're just thrilled," says the school's principal Rodney Berg.

The biggest challenges are the language barrier and catching the kids up on the months of school missed.

"One of the things we're using is Google translate. Trying to get some donations to get them a device so that they can use the camera because if you hover the camera over English text, it can immediately translate it," says Grade 8 teacher Andrew Wilcox.

Students and staff are doing their part to make it a welcoming environment.

"Every day, I'm trying to learn a new word from them to try and, you know, integrate my Ukrainian to make them feel more comfortable as well," Wilcox adds.

Over the next week, the school will also get a volunteer translator to continue helping the Ukrainian students learn English.

But most important, says Wilcox, is making sure the kids feel like they have a place where they belong.