Choosing School

Zara Todd: Unexpected Influence

Zara was born in 1985 in London. She attended a special school initially, then transferred to mainstream at the age of seven. She continued with mainstream education at secondary and then went on to university.

More from
Zara Todd

Here Zara describes how her teacher helped make a different educational choice.

  • Zara Todd
  • Zara Todd
  • Zara Todd
  • Zara Todd
https://howwasschool.allfie.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/unexpected-influence.mp3

Transcript

I wouldn’t say my mum intentionally put me in a special school ‘cause she basically just did what she was told, professionals told her that that would be the best place for me and because she was a single parent and working full time she didn’t have time to investigate it, and it was still quite unusual to be in a mainstream school with my level of impairment anyway. So she just kind of went along with it, it was only when somebody pointed out that I didn’t need to be there that she started to think that maybe I didn’t need to be there and something could happen about that. But the school itself, as in my special school, didn’t want me to leave ‘cause it would be lowering their numbers, so the teacher who essentially became my champion basically took it upon herself to rail against her employers and to educate my mother along the way and if it wasn’t for her I would not have got out of the school, I can put money on that. without her my life would have been a very different experience I think.

Explore more

Explore stories by theme or view the timeline of significant events in education for disabled people

A selection of other stories...