When I went to my secondary school I was nervous, but looking forward to it! The first year was the hardest as I had to get used to having loads of homework and making new friends. I was bullied through my second year at School but tried to cope with it as best I could, as most of it was just name-calling. My Parents separated when I was in my third year of school and it messed me up a bit. I was never allowed to do anything when my Dad lived with us and when he left I saw it as my chance to do what I wanted. I got into a bad crowd and tried to make friends with the bullies by smoking and drinking like they were. I thought that by hanging around on the streets with them would make them like me and except me. But they soon got bored with that and so did I; I didn't want to be like them I just wanted to be like me. I got fed up of not going home, making my mum worried about me it got boring. And I wasn't like that. (All this happened in my summer term holiday, which was 7 weeks)
When I was due to go back to school I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of listening to them start teasing me again, about what had happened. I didn't want to go back and I was determined not to. The school had said that they would sort it out but I knew that they couldn't. So I didn't go. The School sent out my work to me and I done it and sent it back. I never heard if it had been marked or not. The School wasn't in my area and they couldn't keep sending out work to me so they handed me over to the Coventry City Council. It took about 3 months for me to get home tuition but when I finally did I was relieved. The idea was that I would be able to do 2 GCSE's and then go to college in September.
But I became pregnant. I didn't find out for definite until I was 3 months but I knew before then as I was being sick most of the time and I hadn't had a period. I just didn't want to believe it. When I found out I just wished that somehow I could get it out and make it all disappear. My Boyfriend wasn't happy either; he was still in school and couldn't support a baby. It all got too much for him and he left when I was 4 months pregnant.
My home tuition tutor told me about a school that was set up for teenage girls that get pregnant and I had a visit from the head, Ann Walker. She came out to tell me about how the school works and what it aims to do. I went and visited the school the next day.
It seemed ok, there was only 3 girls there and they seemed nice. I started the school the next day, as I couldn't waste anytime. I had to do 7 GCSE's in less than a year. All of the girls at the school were still with their Baby's fathers and that made me feel a bit left out. But I carried on because all the time I was thinking about my baby. It's bad enough being a young mum without being a young mum with no qualifications.
I had my daughter in November and had 6 week's maternity leave and then 2 weeks Christmas. Another thing that was a nice start to the year was that me and my Boyfriend got back together and started to plan for all three of us. His family won't except our daughter or me just because we are young parents. When I went back to school I took my daughter and she was in the Crèche that is next door to the Classroom. It was hard cause every time she cried I just wanted to go and get her but I couldn't cause I had to do my schoolwork. It was a short day there though, only 9 am to 2.30 pm so after school I had time to spend with her.
I took my exams in the summer the same as everyone else and passed them all getting B's and C's. I was very determined not to give up, I'm not saying that it was easy cause it wasn't but it has made me a stronger person. Luckily, I have had the support of my Mum but it's not like that for all young girls. Its not easy being a mum and the older they get the more demanding they get, but its your life and if you get pregnant then only you can decide what to do.
You have to think about the fact that having a baby may lose you your family and you may be bringing up a baby on you own. I just want people to know that I have done it and hopefully someone will gain help from this.
by Louise D (who attended Whitmore Park Annexe School)
