I was chosen to join ThinkForward because I didn’t like school and I never really went to lessons unless I enjoyed the lesson. My school thought that I wouldn’t do anything when I left.

I think my coach influenced me to change myself, to stop being so annoying at school. She gave me some ideas about what I could do in the future, she made me realise that the goals I wanted to have, I can actually reach them.

Donna helped me to look for an apprenticeship by researching different nurseries and seeing if they had apprenticeships. Donna would prepare me for job interviews, and she helped me get ready for having a job.

I’d never worked in a private nursery until Donna helped me get the apprenticeship, but as soon as I started, I knew that I wanted to own my own nursery. Donna gave me the confidence to want to do that.

ThinkForward is good for people like me because if a child, like I was, was struggling as much as I did – didn’t want to go to lessons, didn’t want to go to school or was always playing up, arguing back – they help you to understand that you can’t do that and help you to understand that you can make yourself a better person. I think that without ThinkForward I was going to ruin my future and not do anything at all, so ThinkForward has helped me get the future that I have now and without them I wouldn’t be here, in a nursery, I wouldn’t really be doing anything.

The behaviour management team at school would be surprised to see me now. My English, childcare, maths and science teachers would probably be proud of me.  And I think the headmaster would be proud as well.