Shabnam
Shabnam is the head of sixth form at a community college. She is a lone parent and has four children at home. The youngest is in year 6, she has one in year 9, one in year 10 and a foster child who is 17. Shabnam also has an older son who is living with her mother at the moment.
Shabnam sits in the foreground whilst her youngest child uses the games console behind her to communicate with friends whilst she works.
Shabnam works at the kitchen table in front of a bookcase and wall art.
“He [Shabnam’s son] did one question, got up and that’s like a whole booklet. And he said, ‘oh I can’t do this. How do I do that? How do I do this?’ And I haven’t got the time to go through it with him, so, you know, he completed very little even of that, even though it was a hard copy. So I’ve come to understand it’s virtually impossible to teach primary children if you’re a working mum yourself, because there is no time to deliver. And I’m not willing also to use my Saturday and Sundays teaching him all the things he could be doing Monday to Friday, because for me I need the break myself.
I think because my role, my job itself is so intense when it comes to switching off I don’t want to be doing more brain work. So, has he been at a loss is the question? I’m not too worried because I think, okay, you know, children, this education isn’t the be all and end all. For me his social interaction, his mental health, his wellbeing is more important than his English and maths. His English and maths is fine, it was always fine, and we’ve always done lots of work in our normal routine.
So I think he’ll be fine even when he goes back to school in September. However, what would concern me is the rest of his progress and development, his social interactions, his physical movement, and meeting his friends and being happy as a child, as a ten-year-old should be.”