Education was a means to an end in our home; my career high was going to work in a supermarket. My dad was a miner in County Durham, and my mum an artist. I was born in 1971 and brought up in the mining new town of Peterlee, at the time of the strikes. It was obvious that there wasn't a huge future in mining.
When I left school I thought that I was made with my supermarket job and car boot stall until one day I was with my friend who was doing work experience at the primary school, and the headteacher encouraged me to become a regular volunteer. I spent a lot of time with the reception class and I loved it. The headteacher then encouraged me to go back to night school and get back into education.
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