Sharon Hallas, a 33-year-old mother-of-three from
Manchester, worked as a dinner lady and events steward before stopping
work to look after her children full-time. When her eldest son was
at primary school, Sharon found she didn't have the maths skills to help
him with things like multiplication and division.
"I'd forgotten a lot of my maths skills since school. I wanted to be able to support the kids with their schoolwork, and passing my local learndirect centre one day, I decided to see if they could help."
learndirect's friendly staff showed Sharon how a learndirect qualification in maths could help her to help her kids. With her tutor's encouragement, she also decided to take qualifications in English and IT too.
"Learning with learndirect was so flexible. I could do my courses in my own time, and fit it in around my family life. My confidence in my skills has grown so much, and now my son is at senior school, I know I can give him and my other kids all the help they need with their homework."
Sharon's qualifications also gave her renewed confidence when she looked at going back to work.
"Learning with learndirect has been such a benefit for me and my family. It means the world to me that I can support the kids' education, but it also helped me to go for a new job. I've now been working at my local hospital for 18 months and I work for the Special Police Force two nights a week too. It's something I never would have considered before and I'm really enjoying it!"