Retraining from retail to preschool assistant

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I am currently a stay at home single parent. This means i just live on benefits. This is not my life choice and I really want to get back to work, and I thought I could use the opportunity to retrain.
Ive been out of work for nearly 6 years, but the last 3 as a carer to my autistic son. Hes finally back on track and I no longer need to wait around at home for him to be sent back from school!

I dont have an up to scratch Maths GCSE, and although my English grade was a B, I wonder if it counts as it was earned 16 years ago?!
It seems to be incredibly expensive to retake GCSE Maths, does anyone know of any free courses or how to make it the cheapest?

Then, where do I go from there?

Your English will still count.

You need the maths to get a Level 3 early years educator qualification but you can train up to a Level 2 and work in a pre-school with a Level 2, once there you can either stay a Level 2 or save up and self study for your maths before looking at a Level 3 course.

So i can use my grade D in Maths in order to start my training and grt a basic level job?
Do you know the pay grade? Basic wage?

Our preschool in the South East pays £8.50p/h for lower than a level 3. Rises to £12 p/h for a manager. Not sure how that compares with the rest of the country. That's Monday to Friday 8:30 to 3:30 during term time.
We support staff training and have paid for CACHE level 3's in the past. This was before the GCSE requirement came in, not been asked to fund a level 3 for a while now.
Good luck with the training.

Thanks alot xx