A Ukrainian pupil who interviewed at her current school days after arriving in the UK has won an annual student award.

Nataliia Ryzhova was named winner at Abingdon and Witney College’s Annual Student of the Year Awards, held at The Clementine’s on the Lawn restaurant at Blenheim Palace.

The award was created to recognise and celebrate the outstanding performance and achievements of students at the college.

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Jacqui Canton, Principal and CEO for Abingdon & Witney College hosted the event and said: “It was an absolute privilege to host the student awards evening at Blenheim Palace. “Further Education colleges do the most amazing work, and it is so fantastic to hear the extraordinary stories and successes of our students. “Each year, I am so proud of every single one of our students and the fabulous staff team that work so hard to help them to achieve.

“Thank you again to Blenheim Palace for allowing us to hold the awards in such an inspiring venue; it really helps our students to recognise their tremendous achievements.”

Scott Gray, Head of Faculty for Creative Industries at Abingdon and Witney College said: “Nataliia is from Kharkiv, Ukraine, and came for an interview at Abingdon and Witney College just a few days after arriving in the UK with her mother and sister to live with a host family nearby.

“Despite the unthinkable upheaval she and her family had been through, she seemed upbeat and keen to restart her education, which had been so brutally interrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Nataliia had been an extremely prolific student back home, achieving high grades and producing an excellent portfolio of artwork.

“She excelled in every project and informed us that she intended to apply to study fine art at university in September.

“We were initially apprehensive about her chances of being accepted from a level 2 course, but she was extremely determined and felt, quite rightly, that she should have the right to progress to higher education as she would have been doing now if she were still living in Ukraine.

“We are delighted and extremely proud that Nataliia has been offered a place on the prestigious fine art: drawing course at UAL Camberwell, which she is looking forward to starting in September.

“She is a remarkable student who will no doubt go on to have a very successful future in art and design.”

Gavin Maitland-Smith, Chair of the Corporation Board of Governors for Abingdon and Witney College said: “My greatest privilege has been being involved with the college. Seeing the incredible ways that staff and students can change the lives of people around them is extraordinary.”

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1