From abused child to Mum of the Year

9:17am Tuesday 27th September 2005

A LONDON woman who transformed herself from an abused foster child to a successful teacher has been named Single Mum of the Year.

Nina Wallace, 39, said she was ecstatic to have won the That's Life! magazine award and proud of her 20-year-old daughter Chantel, who secretly nominated her.

Chantel said: "She's been a great mother to me. I've watched her struggle and work hard."

The former deputy head teacher of Barn Croft School who also worked at Woodside Community, Edward Redhead and Hillyfield Schools before moving to a school in Hackney, had a tough childhood after her mother died when she was five.

She and her sisters, Anne and Gloria, suffered ten years of foster hell because they were scared they would be split up if they asked to be moved.

Ms Wallace said: "I got beaten at least four or five times a week, often with the back of a brush, and sent to bed without any tea.

"We used to have to skip school to clean the house and we were not allowed to mix with the other children.

"It was just evil, absolutely evil. I thought if ever I had a child, I just wanted to make sure it was loved."

And she succeeded. Chantel, who is just starting her third year of a BA degree in American and English literature and drama at the University of Kent, has nothing but praise for her mum, who brought her up alone after she split with her father before she was born.

After years of low-paid clerical work, Ms Wallace took out loans and enrolled on an access course at Waltham Forest College, before studying for four years at the University of East London to become a teacher.

But going back to college was really hard, both financially and mentally. Ms Wallace worked after Chantel was in bed so that she did not have to miss out on time with her daughter.

"She said she remembered seeing me cry over the bills and everything else. She said Mummy, you'll be all right, you can do this'."

Chantel said seeing her mother work so hard when she was young inspired her to do the same, and she got three As when she took A-levels at Sir George Monoux College.

She added: "I always felt loved. I wasn't planned at all but she's always put me first and I never wanted for anything.

"I think it's better to have one great parent than two sub-standard ones."

Ms Wallace won £3,000 in the competition which she is going to split with her daughter, spending her half on her new house in Grantock Road, Walthamstow.

She is planning a holiday for them both next year.