(Image: GWP)
A North East businesswoman who left school with only a handful of qualifications is urging students disappointed by their GCSE results not to give up on their ambitions - after building a company that has just turned over more than £1 million for the first time.
Michelle Sheekey, founder of The Montessori People nursery group, said wasn't jumping for joy when as a 16-year-old she opened an envelop containing her exam results.
She said: “I’d passed just a handful of what were then CSE and O-Levels. A-Levels and certainly university were not on my radar.
"I just wanted to escape Teesside and be done with school."
She is now an entrepreneur whose Stockton-based business has become the North East's largest independent nursery.
Miss Sheekey said: "I’m living proof that exams are not everything, but that success can arrive at any time in life.
"I was in my 40s before I’d even started a business, and what matters most is that no matter what happens in school – or in life – you just keep going."
According to Department for Education data, 91.6 per cent of Year 11 pupils go on to sustained education, apprenticeships or employment after their GCSEs.
Miss Sheekey said: "I think what we sometimes forget is that, as people, we are all different – at 16, some people know exactly what their future should look like and how to get there.
"But so many don’t, and that’s really normal.
"I know I didn’t – and I know I just wanted to be away from home, and my only real goal was to be a hairdresser somewhere."
Her early ambition to leave home eventually took her to Beverley Hills, where she worked as a nanny for a boss who was dating Prince’s manager.
She later returned to the UK and re-entered education as an adult, obtaining a coaching qualification from Newcastle University.
She now combines coaching with her early years work, building a career that has seen her become a successful entrepreneur.
Miss Sheekey’s journey is not as uncommon as it might seem.
Research from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor shows that around two in five UK entrepreneurs have not studied beyond secondary school, and more than 60 per cent do not hold a university degree.
The study concluded that entrepreneurship is not limited to university graduates.
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Miss Sheekey said: "Your GCSEs won’t define you – what you do going forward will."
The Montessori People employs around 40 staff and has recently surpassed the £1 million turnover mark.
Miss Sheekey’s story serves as a reminder that success can come at any stage in life, and that determination and resilience matter more than exam results.