THEY have devoted their lives to putting children first.

And to their surprise and delight their work is being honoured by the Queen.

SAIQA CHAUDHARI reports.

YOUNG people are at the heart of what they do.

Narendra Solanki, Tayyebah Jiva and Frances Lysyj work, or have worked, in their own different ways to ensure children — especially the most vulnerable or disadvantaged — receive the best possible start in life.

And their relentless drive to improve the lot of children has been recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

All three have been awarded MBEs.

Tayyebah Jiva works to change attitudes amongst some Muslim families towards fostering and adopting and recognise the importance of “parents”.

The 39-year-old who lives on the Beaumont Chase estate, off Wigan Road, admitted she thought someone was playing a practical joke when she was told of the honour.

But was overcome when she realised she had been put forward for the award by someone she had helped as a child in her role as a social worker.

School governor Narendra works to improve opportunities for children through education.

Frances Lysyj is the former headteacher of St Thomas’ RC Canterbury School, and has been recognised for services to education.

Tayyebah who has worked with children, young people and families for more than twenty years has been honoured for her services to children and families.

She worked to encourage Muslim families to foster and adopt and disproved misplaced beliefs among some that fostering and adoption is sinful by producing ground-breaking guidance through engaging over 60 Islamic scholars.

Tayyebah said she hopes the award will help her further her work by highlighting its importance.

She said: “The letter is very official but until you get the phone call you can’t help but feel someone is playing a practical joke on you.

“The award raises awareness of the work of the charity and the work I do to increase adoption and fostering among the Muslim community.”

Tayyebah added: “”I wanted to work with vulnerable children, to help them figure out their problems and help them find a solution.

“The best thing about my job is to sit and talk with a young person for an hour and to help them move in the right direction in life and I get to do that every day in my life.

“These children are so inspiring through them I learn strength and resilience.”

Tayyebah, who is setting up her own fostering agency, said she will be taking her two daughters to the palace and as well as the excitement of attending the palace. said she hoped the award would inspire her children, showing that hard work is recognised.

Narendra, who lives in Great Lever, is the Chairman of Trustees of Vantage Academies. He has been honoured for services to education through his voluntary role at SS Simon and Jude’s CE Primary in Great Lever, and later as a trustee to drive up standards and to ensure all children have the same opportunities.

Today he helps raise standards in other local authority schools.

“When I was told I was getting the award, I was in shock as this sort of thing does not happen to me and had to double check,” he said “All the work I have done has been voluntary and people often cannot understand or believe why would you do it and not get paid, but in the end you do it because it needs doing. To have this work recognised in this is a huge honour and a reward that will encourage me to continue as long as I am needed.”

The 49-year-old became a parent governor at SS Simon and Jude’s CE Primary School in Great Lever.

When the school was placed in special measures in 2008 he became chairman of governors and has overseen the school becoming an Ofsted-rated outstanding and a National Support School to turnaround schools in difficulty.

Narendra’s hard work took the school in the bottom 100 in the country in 2008 to become a successful multi-academy trust and now has four schools wanted to join. As well as his role in education Narenda also volunteers in the community.

Narenda, who works in IT, said: “I started as a parent governor at my old primary school over 16 years ago as well as being Chair of the PTFA until my youngest child left five years ago. Now since taking the opportunity of trying to make a difference in my children’s education from within the system, the school and now multi-academy trust (MAT) have gone from strength to strength as we try and make an impact to all of the children in the trust across the schools which make it up. “The SS Simon and Judes CE MAT is also known as Vantage MAT has a mission to give all our children the same chance to get the best education regardless of their race, colour or background. In recent times I have been helping the children in Knowsley, Manchester, and Salford and this could not happen without the dedication of all the staff, leaders and governors and families all pulling in the same direction.”

Narenda is married to Sushma and has two daughters Meera, aged 21, and Puja, aged 15.