As part of the continuing In Conversation With series I arranged to speak with Nazma Meah, owner and manager of Aston Preschool to find out how the lockdown had been for her, how she had looked after her staff, children, families and her own family and also her plans for the future. I was completely unprepared for the revelations that Nazma provided in how she had not just looked after all of the above, but had also provided support to the diverse ethnic cultures in her local community where her preschool is situated.
Listen to my conversation with Nazma
You can download the file by clicking on the downward facing arrow (↓) to the far right
About Nazma
Nazma Meah is a qualified Early Years Teacher, Manager and Director of some pre-schools and works as a consultant Manager too. Nazma is very passionate about the early years and especially about children in deprived areas. She hates the labels, disadvantaged, deprived, FSM, EAL…all the things that have a negative connotation. Working in some of the most deprived areas in the country, Nazma comes across children and families that are in desperate need of someone to support, encourage and not judge them.
Nazma’s background is in business and finance but over 10 years ago when she was doing some consultancy for a local school, she was horrified to see the low expectation of these young children that school staff had of them. She often heard “they make progress…but never enough to get them to the national level”. “They come in low, so although they make progress, its not enough”. Thinking that how come children that are born being able to speak 2 sometimes 3 languages not be able to be at the same level as their affluent peers….it must be something to do with the educators and environment around them!!!
Hence started her mission of trying to change at least one child’s life! Whilst doing her consultancy she enrolled on and completed her Level 3 in childcare and opened her first pre-school in 2010 for the children in the community she lives and works in. 10 years down the line she is still going strong and has helped hundreds of families, not just with early education and care but housing, domestic violence, immigration, applying for school places, food banks so on and so forth. She has always been an unofficial children’s centre but without the funding! However, has always managed to ensure that Every Child Matters and every child is included. Early Intervention is the key to her success with engaging with families and ensuring both child and family gets the best. SEND is at the heart of everything she does and will often accept the children that local nurseries struggle to accept. It is for this reason she is often called upon by agencies when there is a SEND child looking for. nursery place.
On a personal level, Nazma has 5 children and a super-duper husband who is the secret to her success. His support in what ever she wants to do is unwavering. Nazma started her BA in Early Years at The Open University 7 years ago when she was pregnant with her last child. Once she graduated she did her YET via University of Wolverhampton and is now aspiring to do her Masters degree at UCLA. An advocate for CPD, she firmly believes in leading by example and ensuring she betters herself all the time! Favourite hobbies are reading (everything), cinema and looking at ways that everyone can be nicer in this world!
Connect with Nazma
Blog posts – The elephant in the room
Nazma only recently started blogging, so here is the link to her first two … they are powerful so definitely recommended reading.
Racism is not a black or white issue….it is an issue of the prejudices in ALL of us
I’m a Muslim so what on earth am I doing advocating for the LGBTIA community!