As a mother of five, parenting has always been my full-time job. I had my eldest, Paige, when I was 21, then Jacob, now 26, Maisie, 20, Ronan, 18, and Jonah, 12, raising them as a single mum.
At 37, I returned to education to take English and Maths GCSEs, and gained a place at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, doing sports science. But as I toured the university with three-week-old Jonah strapped to me in a sling, I realised it wasn’t going to work out. Going to lectures and studying just didn’t seem feasible. Also, Ronan has high-functioning autism and I didn’t want to sacrifice looking after him.
It was hard, though – we never had enough money. Then, one day, a family friend told me they were studying ‘the…