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Keeley Middleton : Colton mum trains as hairdresser
After growing up with little motivation to get a proper education, a Colton mum now given herself a headstart in her aim of a better life by training as a hairdresser.
And Keeley Middleton has been rewarded for her enthusiasm and commitment with an Individual Learner Award, given as part of the recent Adult Learners' Week.
Keeley, 30, said: "I wanted a future for me and my kids. I wanted them to see there is more to life than just being on benefits and living week by week. I didn't even sit exams at school, but wanted some qualifications."
Keeley, from Colton, said that her family never stayed in the same place for long and she rarely attended school.
Pregnant at 18, she found herself with a young son to bring up alone and soon became resolved to working in numerous jobs with no real prospects.
Seven years after the birth of her daughter she decided things had to change and enrolled on a hairdressing course with Leeds Thomas Danby.
Keeley has now completed NVQ hairdressing levels one and two at the East Leeds Family Learning Centre and will start the level three course at the main site in September. She has also spent three weeks in Denmark on a European Student Exchange and has a work placement at a local hairdresser.
She's also working hard at improving her basic skills with additional support from the college for her dyslexia.
She said: "I am now so much more confident and independent and I am determined to make the most of the opportunities available to myself and my children."
Another east Leeds woman, Hazel Church, a catering manageress at a bus company, has also won an Individual Learner Award.
The 51-year-old grandmother used to be terrified of using a computer but returned to studying after her husband bought a computer and is now
a volunteer IT tutor.
She said: "I knew I had potential. I was no not going to grow into a 'sit at home and knit' granny. I wanted to learn with my grandchildren. But most of all I wanted to be me - I didn't want to rely on others to write my letters, do my finances and pay my bills over the web."
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Weather for Leeds
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
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