Education Guide: Autumn 2023

Round & About

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Another September beckons and we hope our education special will help you, whether you’re a parent to a SEN child, would like advice about bursaries, want to make maths fun or continue learning whatever your age 

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SEN support for parents

Worried about a child’s progress in school? Learning differences consultant, former head teacher & SEN editor Mary Mountstephen offers parents some tips on being proactive

There’s always that moment when, as a parent, those doubts in the back of your mind start to assert themselves more loudly. Or perhaps a well-meaning family member or friend might make comments that add to your anxiety levels.

These might include: “Why isn’t he doing as well as his brother?”, “She should have started talking by now, surely?”, “That’s just not right, he needs to stop having tantrums”. Sound familiar?

Each child is unique. They often develop faster in some areas than in others and comparison with their brothers, sisters, cousins or classmates can be unhelpful and unwelcome. Depending on the type of concern and the child’s age, there are organisations and professionals to support you, such as your GP, your child’s setting (early years/ primary etc). The following information is intended to provide you with some basic tips, plus information about other sources of support and advice which are cost-effective or free.

Types of SEN

There are four types of SEN: communication and interaction needs, cognition and learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health difficulties and sensory and physical needs. Some children and young people may have SEN in more than one of these areas, but for most children with SEN, they will attend their local, mainstream school.

Don’t delay if you have concerns

There is a significant body of research that confirms the importance of early intervention when a child’s progress is causing concern. Looking back some years, school often operated a ‘wait and see’ protocol when being asked about delays in progress. Children with a dyslexic profile, for example, would possibly only be monitored until the age of seven, as it was a prevailing belief that they could not be identified before then, whereas current research indicates that this is possible from a much earlier age.

Be persistent but polite when communicating with the setting/ school

Parents and carers are not always confident in advocating for their child and in being able to communicate their concerns articulately. They may have had difficulties themselves at school, and this can translate into feeling nervous or hesitant in expressing their ‘gut feelings’, have known parents, on occasion, to become quite emotional or even aggressive if they feel they are not being listened to. So it’s a good idea to be prepared in advance.

Gather evidence using checklists

There are many checklists of child development, depending on where the concern(s) lie. If your child is in a school or early years setting, advice about this may be available. If not, carry on reading!

Check out national charities & organisations

A quick internet search will produce a long list of organisations and many of these can offer free support and resources. The difficulty here, as with self-diagnosis of symptoms, that you may become convinced your child has more complex needs than they might have. For that reason, it’s a good idea to communicate your concerns with the school at an early stage and be-guided by them.

Contact trusted sources

Finding trustworthy online support can be confusing for parents; the sheer volume of advice can be overwhelming and knowing who to trust can be daunting. For the last two years I’ve been working with SENDStation. I provide training about dyslexia and auditory processing difficulties. The company’s mission has always been to provide great quality learning that’s affordable and accessible. Their online courses are live and cost less than £15, including hand-out and certificate. The team cover 40 different sessions from dyslexia to toilet training. Visit SEND-Station. I’d also like to recommend a free newsletter from SEN magazine. You could also point both of these resources in the direction of the school! Please visit Mailing List Subscription – SEN Magazine to sign up.

Mary Mountstephen is a learning differences specialist with a background of working in a range of school settings, including roles as headteacher of two primary schools, and as an SEND specialist in the independent sector. She provides school training, individual assessments and online training. Find out more at Learning Differences| Mary Mountstephen and follow @M_Mountstephen on Twitter.

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Life lessons with Dame Jacqueline Wilson

Liz Nicholls

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Surrey

We chat to author Jacqueline Wilson, 77, who is one of the stars of Henley Literary Festival, 30th September to 7th October

Q. Hello. I hope you’re well?

“I’m well, feeling good and very much looking forward to coming to the Henley Literary Festival.”

Q. Did you enjoy school?

“I liked it at my primary school. I had a marvellous gentle teacher when I was in Year Five called Mr Townsend. He didn’t tease me when I confided that I wanted to be a writer when I was grown up. He actively encouraged me and was very sweet when I showed him my first long story. I wasn’t quite as keen on my secondary school, though I enjoyed my English lessons and much appreciated the friendly art teacher who taught me a lot about paintings in the National Gallery.”

Q. What was your favourite book when you were a child? And who’s your favourite author now?

“I loved Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, a story about three adopted sisters who go to stage school. I wished I could have ballet lessons myself, but had to make do with dancing round our flat in my pink bedroom slippers, pretending I was a fourth sister. My favourite author is Anne Tyler. I’ve read every single one of her books, and do hope she writes many more.”

Q. Can you tell us about your first book, which I believe you wrote when you were nine, is that right?

“It was only about 15 pages long, but it had all my trademarks: it was about a poor family with a wayward teenage girl of 15, an earnest 12-year-old who loves reading, a 10-year-old who wants to act, nine-year-old identical twins, an anxious six-year-old, and a fierce little sister of four who bosses everyone about!”

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Emily Roux’s packed lunch recipes

Round & About

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Chef Emily Roux and Lexus have rustled up some posh packed lunches to enjoy in the car or on your next road trip!

Typical packed lunch fare such as pasties, soggy sandwiches and packets of crisps, can be bland and unappetising, so Lexus has teamed up with renowned chef Emily Roux to create some gourmet recipes that are perfect to eat in the car. Emily’s carefully crafted, delicious creations are easy to prepare and perfect if your picnic has been rained off, or if you’re waiting for a ferry or Eurotunnel.

Emily has honed her culinary skills in some of Europe’s most acclaimed restaurants and today is the co-owner of Caractère restaurant in London’s Notting Hill. She has used her expertise to create simple recipes that can add an element of delicacy and luxury to your packed lunch.

Wasabi crab tartlets

Ingredients:
• 250g double cream
• 70g milk
• 5g wasabi powder or paste
• 4g salt
• Two egg yolks
• One whole egg

Other ingredients:
• 270g pack of ready-made filo pastry
• 20g melted butter (for brushing)
• 100g picked crab (white, brown, or mixed according to preference)
• Zest of one lemon
• Fresh chives, mint leaves, coriander, or other herbs to suit personal taste
• Salt, pepper, olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 165°C fan (325°F/gas mark 4).
2. Brush each layer of filo with melted butter, stacking at least four sheets on top of each other.
3. Press and cut to the dimensions of your tart moulds.
4. Bake each filo stack in the moulds, with pressure on top, for between seven and 10 minutes (or until crispy and golden). To create the weighted pressure, ideally use the same-sized mould inserted one into the other; alternatively, baking beans will do the trick.
5. Leave to cool and lower the oven temperature to 165°C fan (325°F/gas mark 4).
6. Meanwhile, use a handheld blender to blitz all the wasabi cream ingredients together. Pass the mixture through a sieve for a smooth finish.
7. Once the tartlets have completely cooled, pour in the cream mix, filling to halfway.
8. Bake in the oven for a further 15 minutes until the mixture has cooked through and solidified.
9. Leave to cool – the tartlets are designed to be eaten at room temperature.
10. Season the crab to your taste and add any chopped fresh herbs that take your fancy.
11. Top tartlets with seasoned crab.

For a vegetarian alternative, replace the crab with mushrooms or courgette shavings and fresh herbs.

Dark chocolate crinkle cookies

Temperature and timing are very important with this recipe, so it is best to have all the ingredients weighed out before you start.

Ingredients:
• 200g dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 125g unsalted butter, diced
• 150g caster sugar
• 100g light brown sugar
• Two eggs
• 130g plain flour
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1tsp sea salt (for sprinkling)

Method:

1. Line two baking trays with baking paper and preheat the oven to 175°C, fan oven (350°F/gas mark 4).
2. Place the butter and chocolate in a basin over a bain marie or a saucepan of gently boiling water, ensuring the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir occasionally until the mixture is fully melted.
3. Remove the bowl from the heat and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the eggs and sugars on medium-high speed, for five minutes.
4. Once the eggs and sugar have been mixing for exactly five minutes, pour in the chocolate mixture and mix for a further minute or so to combine.
5. Meanwhile, mix together the dry ingredients, then add to the mixer bowl, mixing briefly until just combined.
6. Use an ice cream scoop to form the cookies. The batter will be a little on the wet side. Make sure to leave plenty to space between each cookie on the baking tray, as they will spread as they cook.
7. Sprinkle each cookie with a little flaked sea salt before placing into the oven and baking for 12 minutes. The cookies will come out of the oven with a wonderful, crinkled look and a slightly domed shape. They will collapse a little as they cool but this helps form that perfect fudgy centre.
8. Sprinkle on a little sea salt to taste and let the cookies cool for at least 20-30 minutes.

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A new lease of life

Karen Neville

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Surrey

Second Hand September, upcycling furniture and repair cafes are all fabulous ways to fall in love again with something you once cherished, not only will it save you money but you’ll be doing your bit to help save the planet too!

How often have you bought something (often on impulse) got it back home only for it to loiter in the back of your wardrobe unworn for years? It’s probably something we’ve all been guilty of at one time, so this month rather than a) buy it at all or b) leave it lurking unloved, why not get involved in Second Hand September?

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Freezecakes frozen cheesecake summer highlight

Liz Nicholls

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Surrey

Surrey-based Pleese invite you to tuck into a taste of summer with the world’s first frozen cheesecake in a tub

It looks as though summer is going to make another fleeting appearance, so it’s the perfect time to stock up the freezer with sweet treats.

“It’s not ice cream!” screams the lid of Freezecakes which is now available nationwide across Co-op and Waitrose stores. And if you’re looking for a creamier alternative to gelato, the Surrey-based Pleese team have three delumptious soft-serve flavours to tempt you.

I was lucky enough to have a houseful of teenagers to taste the new range, and the scoopy specials won brownie points for being palm oil free (an essential if you love orangutans as much as we do) and made of more than 35% cream cheese.

It was a three-way tie between Butterscotch & Caramel (£5, 350g) with crunchy chocolate biscuit pieces coated in chocolate, Lemon & Raspberry (£5, 350g) (pockets of juicy raspberry sauce and biscuit pieces coated in white chocolate, topped with freeze dried raspberry pieces) and (my personal fave) Double Chocolate (£5, 350g) with those crunchy chocolate biscuit pieces coated in chocolate, topped with chocolate flakes.

If you fancy going down a dessert rabbithole, hop on to the @Pleese (previously Pleesecakes) and @freezecakes Insta page to enjoy mesmerising short videos and recipe shorts, as loved by Joe Wicks, Olly Murs and Holly Willoughby…

If you fancy going down a dessert rabbithole, hop on to the @Pleese (previously Pleesecakes) and @freezecakes Insta page to enjoy mesmerising short videos and recipe shorts, as loved by Joe Wicks, Olly Murs and Holly Willoughby…

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Just gaga for radio!

Round & About

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Robbie James from Farnham is obsessed with cheese, wine, Scotland and golden retrievers, is a music, sport and comedy fanatic and will be writing a regular column for Round & About on pretty much anything that takes his fancy from the view of a young, self employed presenter

My first column. The first of anything is always scary isn’t it? The first word you type. The first slice you cut off Colin the Caterpillar. The first step you take into the sea after you’ve been told ‘it’s fine once you’re in’.

As you’ll know if you read my intro to R&A last month (if you didn’t, why didn’t you?) cricket is one of my true loves. The other is radio.

I love radio a silly amount. I loved it way before I knew I loved it & I think that’s the beauty of it. It fills any gap in your life that you’d like it to, without you asking it or even consciously knowing there’s a gap to fill. Radio gives me the same physical feelings as when someone holds a door open or gives you their unused parking ticket. ‘Ah, that’s nice isn’t it, the world isn’t all terrible’. You hear people sharing parts of their life, letting their guard down a bit, providing silly stories or dedicating a song to their pal. ‘Just nice things’ tend to happen on the radio.

I’ve barely done any task this summer without having some form of sports radio on. Test Match Special, Wimbledon, they’re just there as a constant. You hear the hum of a crowd on their day out. You hear a collective expressing their emotions in a world where we are horrendous at expressing any emotions when other people are around. But then it leaves the rest to your imagination. TV doesn’t do that.

Radio is also so live and raw that it allows us to remember that nothing really matters. Radio 1 can be live to six million people at any one time, and a phone line can disconnect mid call. They can play the same song twice. Unless you’re a *insert rude word*, when you hear or see something go wrong in front of lots of people, we generally just laugh or empathise don’t we? No one was nasty of Twitter when I meant to say I couldn’t ‘get my clock up’ whilst hosting Pompey Live last year and accidentally said something else. What can I say… radio allows you to open up.

Mistakes remind us that these people inside the radio are not unreachable. They make mistakes, and that makes them relatable no matter how many TikTok followers they have. And then we warm to them through that empathy. We feel like we may just know them, and we feel a bit less lonely when we get into the car and pop the radio on after a terrible day in the office.

I’m too thick to be a doctor or a therapist, and not to say these occupations quite compete on levels of necessity, but I really do see being on the radio as a chance to improve people’s days a bit. I miss having a regular radio show more anything – but I’m really confident still has a future on both a local and national level. Oh and AI can do one.

Robbie is a Presenter/Broadcaster/DJ/Idiot, now living in Farnham. I do the radio, the TV, and anything else people pay me to do that my moral compass says yes to.

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Sushi masterclass with Tomono Davies

Liz Nicholls

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Surrey

Tomono Davies brings an array of Japanese joy to parties in local kitchens with her sushi masterclasses. She’s on a roll – here’s why you should book in for a masterclass or work party

Lockdown was difficult for all, not least Tomono Davies who was unable to fly home to visit her family in her native Kochi, a sunny city between Shikoku Mountain and the Pacific Ocean. However, during this homesick period she put all of her energy into her business, which has really taken off over the past three years.

“I’m amazed how successful the parties have become,” she says in her own spotless kitchen in High Wycombe. “I tried to be strong and focusing on work really helped me.”

Since moving to the UK 26 years ago, Tomono has missed Japanese food hugely, especially sushi. Back then, Japanese ingredients had not widely crossed the oceans, so she began making it with local ingredients and without special equipment.

“Sushi is not typically made at home in Japan,” says Tomono. “It is something we used to have as take-away for celebrations or enjoy out at restaurants. But when you miss something and know there’s no access to what you miss, people will always invent something new! After many failed, I found keeping it simple and authentic is the best way.”

With Tomono Sushi Party she takes hands-on masterclasses, demonstrations and parties to workplaces and homes across south Bucks and north London. From rolling maki to forming little gunkan boats or hand-shaping temari, guests have given great feedback, which has helped her business grow by word of mouth.

“My mother used to wake up at 5am to cook us a fresh breakfast – obento – and if she had 30 minutes to spare in her lunch break, she would drive home to start preparing for dinner,” adds Tomono. “I never appreciated my mother’s passion for food but now I am a mother myself, this is a tradition I would definitely like to pass on to the next generation.

“Some people might find sushi intimidating, but it’s not; it’s 90% rice, after all. What’s been lovely is helping all the generations enjoy food and new flavours together and it’s great fun. I bring all the kit and also my kimonos which people love to try on for photos.”

“What’s been lovely is helping all the generations enjoy food and new flavours together.”

For those who aren’t fish-lovers, Tomono can offer delicious alternatives such as teriyaki beef and she caters for all dietary requirements such as vegan, kosher and even gluten-free.

Enjoy a Sushi Making Workshop at The Front Room in High Wycombe, 1-2.30pm, on Saturday, 9th September.

At the moment, Tomono is offering an earlybird offer for a corporate event for booking for Monday-Wednesday in November and December.

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French connection: Wines Of The Roussillon

Round & About

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Round and About Magazine’s wine columnist Giles Luckett rediscovers the amazing wines of France’s Roussillon, and finds value and excellence in equal measure

The Roussillon Revolution

Wine surprises and buses, as the old saying goes. You wait six years for one to come along and then two turn up in two months. OK, I’m paraphrasing slightly, but six years after my revelatory tour of Australia and weeks after my eye-opening trip to Portugal, I discover my knowledge of the wines of the Roussillon is about as contemporary as my daughter’s 2012 Frozen calendar.

I was introduced to the wines of the Roussillon in the early 1990s. Bordeaux Direct (Laithwaites) were early importers of their red wines which were generally powerful, slightly rustic affairs with a distinct wild herb tang. They were big, bold, and brilliant value, but were about as serious as my daughter’s calendar – she needs to let it go!

A recent tasting showed me how much things have changed. While the brilliance and the value have remained, the styles of wine on offer have become as dazzlingly complex as the slopes on which they’re grown.

The Wines of The Roussillon

The Roussillon lies in the extreme southwest of France, next to the border with Spain. I could spend hours talking about the soil structures (mental note: YouTube channel on soil structures. Influencer fame and fortune here I come) but it’s mainly clay/limestone, schist and gravel. The climate is warm, but the altitude creates a number of microclimates. This combination means it can provide an ideal home to a wide range of high-quality grapes.

For the longest time, Roussillon was best known for its fortified wines, the vin doux naturel. Lusciously sweet, cherry and chocolate-flavoured reds such as Banyuls, and apricot and honey-toned whites like Muscat de Rivesaltes enjoyed a reputation as high as that of Port.

Great as these wines are, the market is limited, and as far back as the 1980s speculation was rife as to what Roussillon could do with table wines. And just like the revolution that’s swept the wines of the Douro Valley, years of experimentation with sites and varieties are now paying substantial dividends, as the following wines demonstrate.

The Top 10 Wines of The Roussillon

When I last looked at Roussillon’s wines, they were almost exclusively red. Today you can find great rosé and white wines too. Take the Bila-Haut Blanc (Laithwaites £11.99) for example. Bila-Haut is leading Rhône producer Chapoutier’s home in the Roussillon and their expertise shines through. The Bila-Haut Blanc is mainly composed of Rhône grapes Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, and Marsanne. Fragrant with floral notes and citrus on the nose, on the palate there’s grapefruit, and white peach, before the smoky, mineral-laden finish.

Another wine that offers freshness, with complexity is the Les Sorcières du Clos des Fées Blanc 2022 (Yapp Brothers £17.25). This contains some Vermentino, which adds a green apple and lime touch along with a pinch of salt. I had this with grilled sardines, but I can see it working wonderfully well with poultry or creamy risotto.

If you’re looking for a wine that’s zesty enough to refresh, but textured and complex enough to satisfy, then take a look at the Res Fortes Roussillon 2019 (Res Fortes £16). Bold winemaking – they press whole bunches and use Grenache Gris (which isn’t in the least bit grey, by the way) – and some bottle age makes for outstanding wines. Pears, melon, red apple, and greengage, come together with a yeasty, mineral finish to give a wine of precision and depth. Were this from the Rhône you’d be looking at £50+ a bottle.

Encountering great rosé producers. Yet again though I was struck not just by the quality but the value. Take the Domaine Lafage Cotes du Roussillon Miraflors Rose (All About Wine £13.75). The elegant line of the bottle is reflected in the wine inside. Joyously fresh, pure red berries lead the velvet-footed charge, followed by notes of green grapes, watermelon, and raw blackberries before a lovely rush of peaches comes in at the end.

At the other end of the rosé scale, we have the L’Effet Papillon (Highbury Vintners £14.50). This is made by the Rivesaltes co-operative, so right in the heart of fortified country, and they seem to be on a mission to make powerful wines. This is an intense wine whose pure and precise strawberry fruit conveys a feeling of power and concentration. Spicy, tangy, and well-balanced, this would be brilliant with smoked trout, lemon chicken, or roasted guineafowl.

And so to reds. I’ve mentioned Bila-Haut already, and I make no apology for recommending their red too. The Bila-Haut Rouge (The Surrey Wine Cellar £12.95) shows how Roussillon’s wines are distinct and not mere ‘me-too’ Rhône wannabes. While plump and juicy, there’s a light-touch feel to the dark fruit. It’s medium-bodied and has an easy-to-love character that’s often missing in Rhônes, and the finish – a lovely mix of plums, cherries, and spiced berries – adds a further lift. While this is great with red meats, I think it’s even better with tomato or cheesy pasta.

I have to say that my next choice did feel like a blast from the past. The Mas Becha ‘Classique’ Rouge (Great Wines Direct, £19.72) had a ‘garrigue’ (wild herbs to you and me) taste to it. This full-throttled Grenache is packed to the gunnels with cherries, prunes, chocolate, and herbs, but again there’s a lift of red berry acidity that stops it from becoming plodding and one-dimensional. This would be superb with lamb or falafel – anything that needs a little juiciness to bring it to life.

I’ve mentioned the value of the Roussillon several times in this piece, an attribute that’s embodied in the Côtes du Roussillon Héritage Rouge, Château de Corneilla 2020 (The Wine Society £9.95). For under a tenner, you get a magnificently big, plush, old-school red that delivers the goods by the lorry load. Syrah-based, this is inky, spicy, and loaded with lip-staining blackberry, damson, and cherry fruit with interest added by a seasoning of black pepper and mint. Serve this one with your favourite strong cheeses.

Collioure has always been a great source of affordable, high-quality wines. Cooled by Mediterranean sea breezes and with a high percentage of schist – medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity as my YouTube subscribers will know. This allows for the production of elegant, yet well-structured wines that are capable of ageing well. The Les Clos de Paulilles Collioure Rouge 2021 (Majestic £14.99) is a fine example of this. A spicy, blackcurrant-tined wine with plenty of black cherry, strawberry jam, and plum notes, it’s a lot of wine for the wine money and will partner red meats and full-flavoured cheeses.

I’ll finish with a flourish with the Mas de Montagnes Roussillon Villages (Waitrose £12.49). This typifies the newer style of fresher, refined Roussillon wines. A marriage of Syrah and Grenache, it offers black cherry, blueberry, and mulberry fruit overlain with touches of mint and almond, while the finish offers peppercorns and raspberries that add a savoury touch.

The Roussillon Reinvention

The Roussillon is another example of a region that’s successfully reinventing itself. Worldwide there’s demand for lighter, more food-friendly wines, and regions like the Roussillon are well-placed to take advantage of this. If you’re looking for wines that offer excellence, excitement, and value, then I recommend you look to the Roussillon and taste tomorrow’s superstars today.

Next time out, I’ll do a deep dive into the wonderful wines from Yalumba.

Cheers,
Giles

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Planet-friendly Recycle 4 Cash campaign

Liz Nicholls

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Surrey

Scott Andrews from Farnham invites you to sign up now to make money from your recyclables; £25 per household, £150 per club, school, charity or organisation and £1,500 for businesses commercial or retail

Scott has launched a crowdfunder campaign aimed at helping us all recycle more. Recycle 4 Cash rewards everyone taking part by giving points for everyday items thrown in the recycle bi, exchanging your recycling for points redeemable in the shop or online or converted into cash. Scott’s initial target is £25,000 with an ultimate goal of £100,000. There are about three weeks left so please support this now!

“With your help we can get this off the ground,” says Scott. “It’s an all-or-nothing bid so we hope you get behind us and recognise the benefits this will bring to everyone involved.”

“We are currently seeking funds to buy new machinery for our plastic recycling side of the business, the machines will be used to process the waste plastic into different products that will be re sold from the waste we collect, there’s four machines we are looking to purchase at a total of £30,000.

“We have secured £5,000 from four business customers who signed up for having their recycle bin emptied every two weeks so they can see a bargain. Ideally we want support from people and businesses in Farnham Surrey and the surrounding towns and villages as these will be the initial winners in this, however we realise others might love the idea and want to support us so we will give everyone who funds us something back – it could be something made by our workers or local craft makers at the very least 25% off the shop products. I hope this does get funded and the community get behind us so we in turn can help hundreds more raise funds for their great cause!”

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Q&A: Judi Love

Round & About

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Surrey

Comedian & TV star Judi Love shares her thoughts ahead of her The One Like tour which visits The Anvil in Basingstoke, Wycombe Swan & Aylesbury Waterside Theatre as well as many more venues near you.

Judi Love is one of the UK’s most stand-out performers, and she’ll be taking her fresh, unapologetic and charismatic real talk to theatres across the country on her first ever stand-up tour in 2023.

Judi takes everyday relatable situations that resonate with audiences and brings them to life in hilarious routines. Marking herself a firm favourite on the comedy circuit, Judi is also known for producing a host of hilarious online comedy sketches that have gone viral on an international scale. Judi can be seen as a regular panellist on ITV’s Loose Women, including being on the first episode to feature an all-black panel, which received a prestigious RTS Programme Award for the Daytime category. She has also appeared on a number of TV shows, including Taskmaster, The Royal Variety Performance, This Morning, Good Morning Britain, Celebrity Juice, BBC’s This Is My House, The Graham Norton Show, The Ranganation and more. Bruce Dessau asks her whether she was nervous before starring on Strictly, twerking on Saturday night primetime TV: “I was definitely nervous because I wasn’t doing comedy, there was physical aspect. But it was such an amazing show and a great opportunity. When I twerked I felt my mission was complete.”

Q. How do you manage the work/life balance as a mother with two teenagers?

“I struggled with babysitting when they were younger. And now I worry for them when they have exams. But I try to put my foot down and not compromise. It’s a struggle and I definitely have mum guilt thinking I should be home with them. You don’t want them to grow up and say I was never there.”

Q. You can be frank about your sex life and what it’s like to be a woman on stage. Have they heard your material?

“When I was doing stand-up in clubs and couldn’t get babysitters they used to come with me so they know what I talk about. Now they are older they’ve probably heard worse with their friends. But they know ‘Judi Love’ and they know ‘mummy’. I might be extreme or cheeky on stage but I’d never talk like that in my private conversations with them.”

Q. What does self-care mean to you?

“It’s so important. We live in a society where we are so frightened to say ‘no’ we end up on a treadmill. Relaxation is important. I get a facial, take a walk, connect with friends not in entertainment. The other week I just got up, showered, put my houseclothes on, no make-up, no wig and watched all of The White Lotus. And it was beautiful.”

“We live in a society where we are so frightened to say ‘no’ we end up on a treadmill.”

Q. You previously worked in social care. Did your job help you as an entertainer?

“I’ve worked with some of the most deprived people. It’s easy to see someone and judge them and think you’d never end up like that but doing social care you get to see how people end up in certain scenarios. It gives you the empathy and understanding. When I’m tired from doing three jobs a day it’s not trauma. I’ve worked with people in crisis and trauma and it’s not that.”

Q. There were hard times in your early years of comedy, weren’t there?

“I moved to south London when my children were young and I left everything behind. We were in a house with nothing, just mattresses and a cooker. I had to get work quickly so I found a zero-hours job assessing parents. I remember going on a TV discussion programme early in the morning then going to work and they said ‘didn’t we just see you on TV?’. I was doing TV but in the evening my emergency electricity would run out. There’s always more to the story, it’s not all glamour.”

Q. You once said laughter is healing. Is that your philosophy?

“When you think about all the adversity people go through, laughter is what connects us. People say if you don’t laugh you’ll cry, so let’s keep laughing!”

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