Q: Please tell me about your role in today’s society of Ladypool Road? What is your connection?

A: Erm, well being the Head Teacher at Ladypool School, I’ve only be here now a year. Erm I suppose my role is significant now because the community, the school has a lot of work to do to become a good or outstanding school, erm and I’ve got my work cut out. So I’m sure people will be, erm what’s the right word, watching this space, erm to see, you know, what I’m made of really.

Q: When you say ‘you have your work cut out’, what do you mean in that? What are you trying to achieve as head teacher.

A: Erm, well we need to provide the children that attend the school the best education possible. We have to have high expectations for them and what they can achieve. We need to raise their aspirations, erm and erm, you know, help them to become successful in the future. So the work here is more significant because the school hasn’t been very successful historically. It’s needed a lot of support from the city council, erm and from outside agencies, erm in the last decade or more. There’s been a series of about 7 head teachers, erm so when they tragically lost Mr Bennett, at the end of the 90s, since then they’ve not really had a long standing head and that does have an impact, erm and the school has also had some significant incidences, erm that have occurred, that I think had an impact as well on the staff, the families, the children. So we’ve got a lot of history to overcome, erm and move forward really, positively my intentions are long term and I you know, I would love to be here for the rest of my career because, you know, I came to this school and applied for this post because I felt that this was the community that I knew, this the community I could serve, erm and this was my neighbourhood. Erm so yeah that’s the challenge ahead.

Q: Lovely thank you. Would …….you mentioned there has been incidents that has, you feel set the school back from being able to progress. Would you be able to mention one of those?

A: Well I mentioned the fact that the last longstanding head at the school died quite suddenly, in his early 40s of a heart attack. Following him I think there was some interim leadership that had come into the school. Erm but in the early….early 2000 I think and 6, around that time, erm there was a case…. Yeah in the early 2000s there was a very big case around child protection, where there was, I think a girl in the school who had been groomed by a member of staff and obviously that shook the neighbourhood and as you could imagine parents lost faith and trust in the institution, erm and I think it’s taken along time for, for people to begin to trust again. I think the school lost a lot of families at that time as well. Erm and I think there was another case that came very closely after that, of the same kind of nature; erm which you know just exasperated the whole situation. Erm also around us when Nelson Mandela School was built, I think it was just earlier than erm, before that. Nelson Mandela had always been a very very good and outstanding school, a beacon school at it’s, you know, peak and what Nelson Mandela school has done, was shown people who may not have high aspirations for this community or for the children, that it can be achieved and the children can do really well, regardless of their backgrounds or whether their parents can read or support them, erm but by providing a really really good education, erm it can be done and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to work at Nelson Mandela School as well in my early career, erm and that kind of showed me and raised my, kind of expectations of what children could achieve, very early, very early on. I think for Ladypool School to be in a neighbourhood where schools like that exist, has also had an impact because parents also have those options around them and now we have schools like Clifton as well that are, you know, have been very very successful in the last decade. So you know that’s part of our journey, is to really, kind of match what we’re providing with those schools around us and hopefully exceed, exceed that in the future.

Q: Very interesting lovely. Now I know you’re not directly from Ladypool Road but you’re from the area. Could you tell me about where you grew up and explain a little bit about your childhood?

A: I grew up in Sparkbrook on Fallows Road, erm so I actually went to Montgomery School not Ladypool School, erm but when I was at school Ladypool School and Montgomery were the competitors so whenever we had Netball competitions or things like that we’d always be competing, erm and for us in Sparkbrook or around that area, Ladypool School or this neighbourhood was seen to be a little bit more, erm successful or privileged in comparison, erm and my childhood was, not that we realised it at the time, it was very simple. My parents, my Mum is illiterate, erm and we came from Yemen. My Mum came in the 70s, my Dada been here since the 50s and my Dad was a labourer and then became self employed, erm and we had a very simple life. We didn’t really have much erm, like possessions as in toys and those kind of things, erm and you know, because we came from a very poor family back home, erm my Dad was spending a lot of, you know, kind of saving, scrimping and all of that to kind of support them, there, so I recall times where, when we’d have kind of meals, my Mum would cry because she’d be thinking about her family and how they didn’t have what we had. So that was the kind of childhood we had. I recall when, you know, my Mum kind of being nervous about what we were going to be learning in school, erm you know there was a lot of fear and a lot of misunderstanding and things like that. To the point that I’ve….swimming lessons, I’d always have the morning off school, erm because she didn’t really understand what would be happening and they’re going to undress and all this kind of thing, erm and I didn’t actually know that until adulthood and she said you never ever learnt to swim because I never use to let you go to school on the days that you had swimming, and I think it wasn’t until we were teenagers where my Mum kind of started to understand all of that and she became a lunchtime supervisor and got out into the school environment and socialised with people and started to see and trust and understand a lot more about how children were being supported and the things that they were learning. Erm yeah, does that answer your question?

Q: Super yes! Lovely. Do you have any early memories of Ladypool Road or something that stands out?

A: I remember Ladypool Road as being a place where, erm I remember ‘Uncles’, being a big kind of magnet for people because they used to sell pots and things and crockery and things that you wouldn’t find in other places. So if my Mum would need or wanted anything like that, that’s where we would go. So I recall Ladypool Road being important because ‘Uncles’, was there. I think that was the main thing from my childhood and you know I probably did visit Ladypool Road a lot, but I have to say that I think that something’s changed, which was that Stratford Road used to be the main shopping area and the main place that people would go and Ladypool Road was always kind of second to Stratford Road but I think that’s changed now and now Ladypool Road’s a lot more, a lot busier, a lot more central than Stratford Road and I think the Red Route hasn’t helped Stratford Road either, erm you know I think that’s kind of changed a lot.

Q: Could you tell me what Ladypool Road, if you can remember, used to look like visually? When you were younger, when you were growing up.

A: I don’t remember it being as narrow as it is now, for traffic or as busy. I think, I don’t remember it having as many restaurants and things like that. Erm……

Q: Was it particularly clean looking as I know now you walk down it does have a feeling of looking quite bright and colourful. Did it look like that then, that you remember?

A: I can’t remember to be honest, yeah I can’t remember. What I do, what I would say though, I’m from the Yemeni Community and growing up in Sparkbrook I was one of a handful of families probably and whenever we used to go down this end it would be to visit a family member or something like that but I think that’s a big thing that has changed around Ladypool Road, is the numbers of the Yemeni families that live around here, that’s significantly increased erm and I think its because it’s bordering on Balsall Heath as well, so there was kind of you know how communities stay together, a lot of Yemeni communities moved in to that area, so I think that’s a big change as well.

Q: Super fantastic!

A: When you were growing up, did you have any dreams or aspirations and has that changed?

Q: Being in school, I recall a couple of key instances, one when I was in secondary school, we used to call in third years then which I suppose is year 9 now and I remember and I don’t know why I remember this but I remember an incident where we had a teacher and I don’t think it was a regular teacher that we had, but she said to all of us, ‘out of all of you, only two of you will go to University, ok so there’s a class of thirty, only two of you will go to University and I always used to think to myself, well I’ll be one of those two, but that was me and as an adult now I’m thinking well what did everybody else think in that class and that kind of message going out to children is not very positive, now that I’m a teacher, erm and I also recall coming close to the end of secondary school, there was a meeting in the hall and all of what’s year 11 now were in the hall and I think they were talking about careers and moving forward and everything else, erm and I remember being very annoyed with one of my friends who said ‘Well I’m just going to get married and have kids anyway, so what’s the point’. And I remember somebody else saying…..I remember thinking and saying ‘Well I want a career I don’t just want a job!’ I’m surprised now that I even knew what a career was at that age, but I did obviously. So those are the things, yeah that I remember about how nothing was going to enough I think, erm yeah.

Q: So did you know, did you have an incline of what you wanted to go into as a career or would……

A: So after you go through all of them I want to be an air hostess and I want to be a newsreader and I want to go do all of those things, I did and if I look through my documentation from when I was that age, erm and having careers conversations and things, I did want to be a teacher. I think more, I love being with children and I loved working with children and I also knew that the lifestyle would fit in with my cultural lifestyle and expectations. So yeah I did know I wanted to be a teacher, even then, cuz my work experience was actually in one of the nurseries, you’ve reminded me actually, one of the nurseries on Ladypool Road. Erm, yeah.

Q: Super. So who was the main influence, do you feel, in your life?

A: Professionally do you mean?

Q: Not necessarily professionally just somebody that you feel has had an impact and influence on you as a person.

A: My parents, yeah.

Q: What are you most proud of in your life?

A: Well currently I am very proud of my children. I’ve got four children and although at times it’s very hard, and they are very challenging. I am, I do look at them sometimes and think they are decent people, they are good, and they’re nice (School bell rings here), you know and I always said to my, to my children you know, do what’s right and do good because that will you know it will always come back, you know if you hurt somebody or of you whatever it was always come back to you and its not, so to live their lives in a good way and I look at them and I do think you know the eldest now she’s 24, she’s a teacher herself, my son is 20 and he’s training to be an electrician, the other one’s 16 and then I’ve got a youngest one who’s 8. Yeah so maybe I did something right there. I am….I can’t say…cuz the question was about achievement, did you say?

Q: What are you most proud of…..

A: What are you most proud of. So I know that some people would say am I proud to be the head teacher at Ladypool School? I am proud to be the head teacher here but I don’t feel the same sense of achievement because some of it I don’t…..I think if the school in the next couple of years is really successful then, I think it’s too early for me to say that at this moment in time, and I think I’ve been very lucky as well.

Q: Wow, I’m amazed you’ve got a daughter who’s 24, you don’t look old enough. How do you feel you experience of growing up around Ladypool Road, would be from growing up in this area today?

A: I think it’s very different. As a woman it’s different. First of all I think if you look at Ladypool Road, it’s become……it’s about…. The people that would visit Ladypool Road now I don’t think would be as deprived as the families that used to, in the past. Deprived might not be the right words, they’ve got more money to spend socially, so restaurants that’s one aspect of it. That would, you’d never go to a restaurant. I remember if we even had fish and chips, would be a treat, from the chip shop. So as a child going to a restaurant, never happened. I don’t ever recall it. Anybody I knew, even if it wasn’t me. I didn’t even know anybody that had that kind of lifestyle, that you’d visit restaurants. That’s one thing, so I think as a community who lives around here now we like to socialise a lot more, go out a lot more, erm either with their friends or their families. There’s a lot more of that and if you drive down Ladypool Road on Mother’s Day, you will see all, you know such a, you know, you’d expect that Mothers Day is something that is celebrated mainly by, you know, non Muslims or non Asian families but drive down Ladypool Road on Mother’s Day and you’ll be educated, parents sometimes, three generations will go out and it’s lovely to see, it’s really really nice. I think there’s that bit. I think also look at the shops that sell clothes, they’re not middle of the road or average, some of them are very expensive. So they’re providing for a certain kind of category of people. You know and like I said, I feel I’m a professional and I may have a bit more money than some families do and having a close family member getting married and somebody said oh you know Ladypool Road has got some really nice clothes and we’ll go into the shops. I was surprised at the prices. Some of them are custom made, erm you know so you design it even yourself or if you like something they’ll adapt it and they’ll order it and it’s made for you. So I think that’s a big difference. Growing up ready-made clothes wouldn’t be available, Asian ready-made clothes wouldn’t be available. You would buy fabric and you’d have somebody make it if you wanted traditional clothes. So now you pick it, you pay for it and it will come, you know, made for you and they’re very very glamorous and very special…erm…

Q: How did you find peoples attitude towards you generally when you would visit Ladypool Road, when you were growing up if you can remember? What were the community like, were they friendly?

A: I do remember, I recall actually. I had three brothers, three younger brothers and because my Dad was working so much, there wasn’t much opportunity for him to take them to things like the barbers, so you wouldn’t have hairdressers you’d have barbers and I do remember my Mum having to take my brothers to the barbers and it’s not nice because the barbers is usually very male kind of dominated and then, you know, here’s a lady with broken English coming in with three boys to have their hair cut and I do remember there used to be a barber on Ladypool Road, don’t know… it was… and I remember that being a very uncomfortable situation to be in, lots of kind of, you know, old you know white men who were probably kind of making some comments or jokes at our expense, erm but actually not understanding the whole situation, myself and my Mum definitely not understanding the whole situation and I remember that because she’d asked, she’d asked for him to make sure that the comb had been washed before using it on my brothers because she had this thing about grey hairs, that they could catch them, but I could see how that could offend somebody else. So I remember that I do remember that actually.

Q: That’s funny. How do you find peoples attitude in Ladypool Road today? So how has that changed do you feel?

A: Well I don’t think that exists anymore, erm I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not because it would be nice to have much more of a mixture of people on Ladypool Road. I think there’s… it’s become a very glamorous place and sometimes even I feel very under dressed if I’m going out to a restaurant there or whatever. I don’t, I suppose I don’t shop there in the day time so can’t really say what it’s like in the day time but I know there’s… there’s a big difference now. I think you’d go to Ladypool Road if you’ve got money to spend and you know, you might make a day of it, so you’ll go shopping look at the clothes and everything else and then you’ll go somewhere to eat. That’s how I see Ladypool Road now.

Q: Can you explain the presence of women in Ladypool Road when you were growing up. Do you remember seeing ladies in the shops working there?

A: No and actually I do recall now that you mention it there was a shop on the corner, opposite, opposite Uncles. I can’t remember what the shop was called and he had a sign in his window saying that he wanted somebody to work on a Saturday job and I was so keen to go for that and I think it said something like he wanted somebody that spoke another language or something like that and in those times I mean my Mum was never going to have that, me working for a man in a shop and everything. So it was rare it didn’t happen often. You wouldn’t see girls or women working in the shops but I think when I was growing up it was starting to change, but it’s taken twenty years.

Q: Did your Mum allow you to for the job?

A: No in the end no.

Q: Do you feel that the presence of women in today’s Ladypool Road has changed?

A: Yeah because I think some of them are owned by women. Some of the shops are now owned by the women not just working in them and the kinds....... the way that the shops have developed is because they know what women want. Yeah so I think that’s been a big thing and I think also now, I was saying about the glamour.... I was saying to you how I’d never been to a restaurant, people never went to hairdressers or beauty parlours in those days and I’m finding that’s a growing trend now, in the neighbourhood, or you know all kinds of things waxed and you know hairdressers and you know for little occasions. It might be somebody’s birthday party and I’m going to go and you know have my eyebrows fixed or something like that. That was never, never never never, anything you would spend money on at that time.

Q: And do you feel the ethnic diversity of the street has changed from your childhood to now?

A: Definitely and I think I’ve already said a few of those things. I do think now there’s a bigger Yemeni community and I think it’s changing still and I think it will continue to change, yeah I do.

Q: Do you stay in contact with any friends you grew up with in the area?

A: I hadn’t but coming back to Ladypool School I’ve found a few old school friends that we’ve, you know kind, we’ve of come back together again and met up again and things like that so yeah.

Q: So in your opinion, do you feel that people of your generation, do you feel they stay in this area or do you feel that they move away? Or a mixture?

A: I think it’s a mixture. I think there are some, I mean this.....erm I think there’s a mixture.

Q: If you could sum up Ladypool Road in a sentence what would you say? Today’s Ladypool Road.

A: It’s buzzing.

Q: If you had a message to give to the women of Ladypool Road, to empower them, what would it be?

A: It would be for the women who are already successful on Ladypool Road, the business women and things like that, to them I would say do what you can to help the next generation of women to be as successful or exceed the success and mentor or support or just you know, help them because from my generation I feel that we’ve had to find out on our own and do things the hard way and wherever possible we need to help the next generation or you know to just make their journey much easier than ours.

Q: Well it’s been fascinating talking to you it’s been absolutely wonderful, thank you very much for your time......

A: You’re welcome.

Q: And telling us your story. Just to reiterate that you are happy to make this recording available for public use?

A: Mhum, yes.

Q: Thank you.