Woo Hoo She's Graduated!

Mrs Abigail Lewis, B.A Hons Primary Education with QTS (2:1) Bangor University.

Well, she's done it!

All the hard work and stress has paid off.

Abigail, our eldest received her degree yesterday.

She did it the hard way, as she missed out going to University as a teenager, choosing to train as a hairdresser instead (a skill we are all eternally grateful she learnt I may add!)

Receiving her degree.

Abie chose to go to University and train to teach (having sworn after years of helping her parents in schools, that she would NEVER be a teacher!), after she had given birth to Ella at 19 years of age. This meant when Ella was one she went back to college to gain an Access Course and came in the top % of her class.

With her new husband, Glenn.

When Ella was two she started her degree at Bangot University. Because of childcare costs she had to stay fairly local, and Bangor, although a trek by train, bus then a walk, was accessible.

At this time, Abie had recently moved out with Ella, and had not yet met Glenn, so she suddenly had an awful lot of responsibilities trust upon her.

Proud mum and dad!

Being a mature (albeit by a couple of years) student is always hard. She could not get fully involved in student life, and the younger undergraduates sometimes appeared very immature with not the weight of responsiblities that she had. Dragging yourself to uni at the crack of dawn after a night with a puking toddler is far from easy!

Some of the lecturers were very kind and sympathetic, some were not, even unnecessary unpleasant at times, which was disappointing. In an age of equality, where we are trying to encourage people to get better qualified, this seems a bit outdated!

Gotta love the English Summers!

The course involved some very long days, especially when she was on teaching practice, so we came in handy, as we could at least look after Ella, so she could have more time to spend on her work, when she needed it. We also were helpful as we both had studied the same subjects as well. (Parents do actually have their uses!)

Celebrating at home!

In the wind and rain and cold of winter, I am sure the last thing both she and Ella wanted were the long waits for buses at 7am and the very long days ahead. Chasing to the train station, missing trains and waiting for public transport became part of everyday life untill this year when she passed her test and we helped her get a car to make life easier.

Cakes and Cava!

Teaching Practice, as anyone who has done it knows, is not easy at the best of times. The paper work is vast, and then theres all the lessons to plan for as well. You do eventually get used to having the world and his wife observe you though which is a good thing.

How to squash thirteen people into a tiny kitchen!

Abie is very fortunate, as one of the few graduates to be able to find a job in September. There are very few in this area at present.

She is an excellent teacher, with glowing reports and I am sure she will do brilliantly in her chosen profession.

The hairdressing world's loss!

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