We are writing this to ask for some support for one of our incredibly talented A-level Physics students who has been offered an amazing opportunity of a month’s work experience at CERN, Geneva in June.  Pavlo joined our school at the beginning of Year 11 when fleeing the war in Ukraine. He worked extremely hard to achieve the grades he needed at GCSE in just a year and, despite his English being very rudimentary when he joined, he was able to get on to his A-level courses of choice - Physics. We were immediately impressed by how dedicated and motivated he was to learn. It was hard to imagine that he hardly spoke any English just a year before. 

During Year 12, Pavlo expressed an interest in doing some work experience at CERN in Geneva, and he started to investigate; we looked at how this could be applied for, but it was quite complicated, requiring a named supervisor and project details we didn’t have access to.  As we were about to go on our Sixth form Physics trip to CERN, we decided to talk to our tour guide when we arrived. Once at CERN, Mrs Hamnett met the tour guide and introduced herself, asking him where he was from - he said he was Russian. Mrs Hamnett explained we were looking for some help with a work experience opportunity for a Ukrainian student, and he grinned and immediately offered support. From there, the conversation began.  He has been incredibly supportive, helping to find a month-long placement for Pavlo to navigate the complicated systems at CERN and even giving advice on transport, living costs and how he can get accommodation when he's staying there. He stated, "The kind of little support I've provided for Pavlo is done by many physicists at CERN to many young people - this is how the friendly, supportive & collaborative community is built". "It's basically the same thing as you and the school are doing for Pavlo." "The internship will be carried out with the AEgIS experiment within the Antimatter Factory at CERN in order to produce anti-hydrogen and to study its properties and to compare them with the properties of the normal matter or hydrogen. This can help answer a number of fundamental physics questions."

From Pavlo

I was 16 when I fled from the war in Ukraine with my mum, while my dad had to survive the occupation in a town near Kyiv called Bucha. I escaped with my mum to Poland, but then I received the chance to move to the UK, albeit without my family accompanying me. I spoke English poorly when I arrived, but I studied hard and managed to pass all my GCSEs. I am now studying three A Levels, including my favourite subject, physics.

I have now been offered the chance of a lifetime – an internship at the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), one of the world’s leading scientific research centres, located near Geneva in Switzerland. CERN is renowned for its work in particle physics, and an internship there would greatly further my studies.

It is an incredible opportunity – one I never imagined possible for someone like me. Unfortunately, I am unable to cover all the costs of this amazing trip, which is why I am asking for your help.

Would you be able to assist me in raising £1500 to cover my accommodation, public transport and living expenses? I am managing to cover all the other costs myself, and any donation would literally mean the world to me and help me to continue pursuing my dream of studying physics. Thank you.

We're very excited for Pavlo to be able to take up this opportunity; it's really unusual for someone of his age to be able to have work experience at such a prestigious organisation, and it's an incredible chance to work at the cutting edge of particle physics. We are absolutely convinced he's going to make the most of it.

We're looking forward to seeing how much he's going to get out of the experience.  Pavlo is an incredibly deserving student who has had more to overcome than most of his age, and getting some support to finance his accommodation costs would be invaluable.

If you are able to help makes Pavlo's please visit his Go fund me page here https://gofund.me/536efc29

Claire Hamnett - Lead Practitioner - Physics