The Save the Children ambassador, best known for the hit song “Murder on the Dancefloor”, joined a music therapy workshop in Warsaw with Ukrainian Roma children aged 3-12 where they danced and played instruments to traditional Polish songs, and participated in an arts and crafts session creating pictures using natural materials such as moss and leaves.
WARSAW, 14 February 2025 – British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor said meeting refugee children from Ukraine during a visit to Poland highlighted the importance of education for students who fled their homes after the escalation of full-scale war in their home country three years ago.
The Save the Children ambassador, best known for the hit song “Murder on the Dancefloor”, joined a music therapy workshop in Warsaw with Ukrainian Roma children aged 3-12 where they danced and played instruments to traditional Polish songs, and participated in an arts and crafts session creating pictures using natural materials such as moss and leaves.
These workshops are run with a local charity partner, the Foundation Towards Dialogue, that supports children from the Roma community, including thousands of Ukrainian Roma who have sought refuge in Poland.
Ellis-Bextor, 45, a mother of five, also visited a library supported by Save the Children and its partners, to learn how secondary school students are building resilience in a new country after their education was thrown into turmoil by the war that has disrupted the education of about 4 million children. Currently, about 600,000 students are learning remotely across Ukraine due to the ongoing risk of attacks.
At the library, she participated in a workshop with a group of 15-18-year-olds from a local Ukrainian school which was set up in the outskirts of Warsaw by Ukrainian teachers. The ‘Healing and Education through the Arts’ (HEART) session provides psychosocial support to children who are trying to adapt and overcome the distressing situations they have experienced.
At the library Ellis-Bextor met Jana*, 17, from Kyiv in Ukraine, who spoke about her hopes and dreams.
Jana said: “I want to do something to help Ukraine - to change things. I’ve travelled a lot because of war, because I was trying to find a new home. The experience I have gained has been such a vital part of my life now – it has been defining. I want to use this experience to help rebuild Ukraine, to give it a bright future.”
Speaking about her visit, Ellis-Bextor said: “It has been an absolute privilege to meet with some of the young people Save the Children supports here in Warsaw. The stories I’ve heard have been truly inspiring. Despite their unimaginable hardship – having everything they know and love taken away from them – it’s incredible just how resilient the children are.
“When talking to me about their lives here in Poland, they all spoke with smiles on their faces. They described how they’ve enjoyed reconnecting with their Ukrainian community as well as making new Polish friends. I was overwhelmed at how excited they were for their futures and just how many of them wanted to make a positive difference to the world around them.
“It is so easy to take school for granted but hearing the children speak about how these sessions provide them with hope and a sense of familiarity has been truly humbling. Equally, the teams who run the programmes and centres here have built such a safe space for this marginalised community. It’s no wonder the children love attending. They provide them with a sense of normality which will ultimately help deliver long-lasting impact.”
In Poland, thousands of Ukrainian children remain out of school. As of October 2024, about 151,000 school-aged Ukrainian refugee children were enrolled in Polish schools, however estimates suggest that between 21,000 and 143,000** may not be attending, despite a new Polish mandate making education compulsory for all Ukrainian children.
Celina Kretkowska-Adamowicz, acting Response Director at Save the Children in Poland said: “Education is a fundamental component of our humanitarian response, enabling us to deliver lasting change for children. We know conflicts push education systems to the brink, and this couldn’t be truer for the situation in Ukraine. We don’t want children’s experiences of war to define them. We want to give them hope for the future - and that’s exactly what education can do.”
On 24 February, it will be three years since the escalation of war in Ukraine which drastically changed the lives of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children.
Save the Children said the UK has provided over £477 million in humanitarian aid since 2022, but funding for frontline communities and critical winter support is running low. The UK Government can unlock a further £2.3 billion from the sale of Chelsea Football Club, currently stuck in a UK bank account due to bureaucratic issues. This would fund humanitarian programmes for children and families impacted by the war in Ukraine, at no cost to the taxpayer.
ENDS
Notes to editors
*Names have been changed to protect anonymity
**This data was compiled in cooperation with UNICEF and is based on various sources, including the Ministry of National Education (Poland) and the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). Sources:
Educational integration of refugee children in Polish schools. Where do we stand after the introduction of compulsory schooling?
In Poland, Save the Children has been responding to the needs of children and families from Ukraine since February 2022, supporting more than 127,000 of the displaced children who have fled across the border. By working with local partners, the team delivers psychological programmes in schools, libraries, and community spaces across the country so refugee children can build a sense of trust and feel more connected to one another despite any language barriers. These groups give Ukrainian children the chance to learn, read and play in their native language but also attend Polish language classes to help them integrate into the local community. It has also set up child friendly spaces across Poland in addition to 75 Digital Learning Centres around the country. Save the Children has been supporting schools in Poland by providing training, supervision, and funding for ‘Intercultural Assistants’, who play a key role in fostering integration. The charity has also been working in 23 libraries across Poland to help young people develop a sense of purpose, identity and belonging though offering them with opportunities to develop essential skills that will help them for their future careers.
About Foundation Towards Dialogue
The Foundation Towards Dialogue works to support Roma men and women in Poland, as well as Roma refugees from Ukraine, by providing them with legal, educational, and humanitarian assistance. Every day, we encounter stories of children who, without help, would have no chance of living a normal life. Due to the support of organisations such as Save the Children, we can make a real difference—opening doors to education, providing families with safe shelter, and combating the exclusion that still affects the Roma community. Together, we are building a world where everyone has equal opportunities, regardless of their background.
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