A PLAYSCHOOL owner who recently completed a foundation degree in childcare is being forced to sit GCSE English and maths exams or face closure.
Having left school at 14 with no qualifications, passing the Level 5 course was a result of two years of "late nights and tears" for 53-year-old Tina Lassman, who runs Little Legs Nursery in Hutton.
With no computer skills and decades away from a classroom, going back to school was "daunting" for the single mother of three from Warley Park.
For two years she hit the books for 30 hours every week on top of managing the nursery and running her home.
In 2007, the Government announced that all pre-schools must have one member of staff qualified with Early Years Professional Status by 2015.
To make that grade Mrs Lassman must now complete a bachelor's degree in early childhood studies, however, she has been told she cannot enrol for the university course until she passes GCSEs in maths and English language.
So, instead of pressing ahead with higher education, she is learning Pythagoras' theorem.
Mrs Lassman, who had already passed a GNVQ in childcare in 2007, the same year she battled breast cancer and lost her father Alf, described the situation as "stupid".
She added: "I think it's a waste of time.
"I have already done a course at college that shows I am ready for the next qualification."
GCSEs register at Level 2 on the National Qualifications Framework, which is three ranks below the foundation degree that she has already.
Mrs Lassman has begun studying maths at Hutton Poplars and English at Harlow College. But despite losing a year while she studies, Mrs Lassman said she was especially proud to don the gown and mortarboard at her age.
"The whole graduation was very emotional because looking back ten years ago life looked pretty bleak," she said.
"Going to college was daunting, I found it extremely hard because the young ones were very knowledgeable about technology, I had to learn all that."
Before opening Little Legs in 2007, Mrs Lassman began childminding while still recovering from cancer.
She said: "Even though I was ill I still had to earn money.
"They said in the hospital that I was very positive but I had to be, I had three children to look after."
Starting from two children, her business grew quickly and Little Legs, which she runs with business partner Jo Callaghan, now caters for 48 toddlers with 13 staff.
