By the time I was 13, I had attended no fewer than 10 schools, writes Gillian Rivers. My father’s career ensured that we were not able to settle. I left school at 16 with a handful of O levels and CSEs and no memory of any teacher alleviating the disenchanting, miserable school experience.

I immediately became a wife and mother and for several years had no time to draw breath. Then, when I was 25, the youngest of my four children started school and my mother, for whom I cared daily, succumbed to the dreadful illness that had enveloped her for 15 years.

I was young, albeit quite exhausted, and I realised that my newly discovered “dead time” in the middle of the day was an opportunity to do something interesting. I joined Guildford College of Further Education, taking the first step to becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives. I recall my first day, when the bag holding my notebook was my daughter’s pink “My Little Pony” satchel.