This year, having thought that I’d put university well and truly behind me, I made the decision to go back to my studies and applied to do a PGCE Course in Art and Design for Secondary Education. Before I knew it I’d left work in August and started the course in September. Going back to university was a huge step and initially I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing. However, because this will benefit Inaaya too I’m convinced that it is a good idea. My little girl will be three on her next birthday, which means she’ll be starting school part time, when I’m teaching I’ll be able to work around school holidays much more easily.

But it’s not all plain sailing, the first few weeks have been very stressful and there’s still eight months to go! Making the transition from spending lots of time with Inaaya, to hardly seeing her, has been really difficult. I guess this is just something we’ll have to get used to… And it will be worth it once I have finished. To make up for it I’ve decided that I’m going to avoid doing any uni work at the weekends, meaning we’ll be able to concentrate on spending quality family time together! Last weekend I managed to kill two birds with one stone though when I took Inaaya to the Big Draw at the Ikon Gallery in the Mailbox, Birmingham…

The Big Draw is a national campaign to encourage people to get involved with arts and crafts. At our local event there was an exhibition of a life-sized whale made from fabric, and an opportunity to get creative at a drop-in workshop. Inaaya didn’t seem very impressed with the whale, perhaps it was a bit too big and she was scared of it! She did love being able to draw whatever she wanted though, and it was great to see her having so much fun scribbling, drawing and sticking away. It was also nice to see the staff from the gallery helping out.

In fact Inayaa enjoyed herself so much that she didn’t want to leave. This was great for me as I took the opportunity to carry out some research and do some sketches for university. I also discovered that the gallery hold a parent and child workshop on the first Saturday of every month so we’ll definitely be going back.

Inaaya and I getting creative:

Inaaya engrossed in her work:

A member of gallery staff lends a hand:

Why choose one when you can have them all? Inaaya finds herself spoilt for choice with all of the materials on offer: