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The primary aim of this programme is to demonstrate, how learning can be made FUN by tapping into the students’ innate curiosity for all things novel and by using the power of their imagination to make information memorable.

The presentation will inspire, motivate and energise students and staff, leaving them excited and empowered about learning. This is what Aston Fields had to say:

Dear Lee

We really did enjoy  the Positively Mad experience - the feedback from staff and students was very good.  One member of staff, not known for her over statement, said it was the best training she had ever had!  So thanks to you and Kim - who was inexhaustable!
Even now, all these months later, we are recalling what we learned and using the strategies to make links in the classroom - which was what it was all about really!

Best wishes

Ros Cofield

Aston Fields

Teachers at Park View High School, Birmingham, were asked to rate their day's training using a star rating system, with 5 stars being excellent. Here are their reviews:

***** Creative, innovative and above all, informative. A very inspiring session. Thank you!
*****Refreshing old knowledge. Enjoyed the team work. Enjoyed the chance to talk and discuss ideas with other members of the team.
*****I thought the day was excellent, was really useful and gave me confidence in a lot of the subjects I work in. Was brilliant.
*****Interesting, snappy, lively, eye-opening.

Jay was absoultely excellent on Friday and gave a very informative and useful techniques to our pupils.  Although the sports hall wasnt ideal Jay was a true professional and stepped up which I appreciated as I was a little apprehensive as I thought I had the main hall!!  He engaged the pupils and was able to challenge them in 'thinking outside of the box'.  Please pass on my thanks and wish Jay a great Christmas and New Year.
 
Thanks so much for your help over the last couple of weeks.  Enjoy Christmas and Happy New Year!
 
Regards
 
Claire Friedner - Burnt Mill School

Positively MAD is Making a Difference - Internationally

The credit crunch doesn’t appear to be affecting the team at Positively MAD.  They’ve had a record year. And the diaries for next year are filling up fast. 

With an incredible reputation, UK-wide for inspiring whole year groups with multi-media, interactive, multi-sensory presentations, the company has spent a number of years researching, developing and producing more specialised courses for smaller groups of students.  These coaching systems, aimed at groups of 30 at a time, afford a more personal interaction between presenter and audience, with students being given individual attention and more detailed assistance.

We asked teachers at a recent AFL training day what they most enjoyed about the course - and here are a few of their comments.

• “The interactive element was so much better than just sitting and listening! Thank you!”
• • “The amusing anecdotes, jokes and comments!”
• “Humour, relaxing, ideas”
• “The booklet is pretty comprehensive”
• “The presenter kept it going with jokes and his personality.”
• “Lollipops and sprouts”
• “Swapping groups and talking to others.”
• “The variety of resources.”
• “Good energy”
• “I enjoyed the linking game and also the different ways of questioning.”
• “The humour, the range of activities that involved moving around.”
• “The course was engaging.”
• “Being respected from the outset. Interaction with colleagues built in. Lots of activity.”

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Dear Corin

Many thanks for a great week. The positive feedback we have had from the pupils who attended your YR10 & YR11 study skills workshops were quite overwhelming. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves & were remarking how they will be using mind mapping to help them with their school work & beyond!! Here is a little taster of some of the feedback we received…’ It was fantastic, I always thought mind mapping was confusing & difficult to understand, but once it was explained it seemed very easy…I was amazed how much I remembered’….  ‘It has made me realise how mind mapping can help in my revision’

Thank you once again & please say a big thank you to Jay & Sander in how well it was presented. I hope our paths will cross in the new  year.

Jill Yeowell

West Essex Aimhigher

2.12.08

After Positively MAD presented at St Richard Gwyn School there was some great feedback:

"It was surprisingly interesting and made me think" Christian Kadach

"Found the new revision techniques extremley helpful" Amy Richards

"Funny guy" Mary Ann Ling

"I found the techniques really useful and surprisingly easy to learn" Naomi

"Get rid of all exams and have a two year long assessment in its place" - Laurence Fogg

"Jay Rocks!"  Paige Silver

"The presentation was a useful way to spend an hour and a half and I learned a lot" Jade Mackie

"I thought the presentation made me realise the different ways of revising and how easy I could make it for myself which will definitely help me in the future" Anonymous

"Jay is amazing.. really fun" Roxanne Williams

Dear Sir/Madam,

Please pass on my thanks to Pete for his Super Speed Study Skills presentation at Glyn Derw High School, Cardiff yesterday. I went to watch in preparation for the event at my school next month and am now inspired and looking forward to planning our day. I was impressed by his energy and ability to put across the information in a way that was both useful and captured and held the students' attention.

Yours

Kate Ford

Head of Year 11

Radyr Comprehensive

Hello Corin,

After speaking to the children about the workshop, it was all a very positive impression. The students loved the whole idea of relating numbers to words and words to objects. They told me that they could see themselves using this technique when revising at home. Jay who presented the workshop was great with the kids, got them very well engaged into the activites and was very professional. As a member of staff watching in the hall, it was great to hear the kids feeding back to Jay ( for me i knew that it had been a successful workshop) and remembering shopping lists and certain numbers. It was very good. Hopefully with their mock exams coming up they have used these useful techniques when revising.


Thankyou

Shrona Moores
Aim Higher and AGT Co-ordinator
Marsden Heights Community College

Hi Corin,
 Further to our telephone conversation I am writing to reinforce what a fantastic day our year 11 students had on Wednesday. The students found the whole experience really valuable. They were all extremely motivated by the session and all felt that they had learnt some new revision techniques. It was refreshing to see them all so positive and engaged in an activity.

Below is an extract that a student wrote for our school website (the reference to fireworks is because the session was on 5th Novemeber).:

"The second part of the day was titled ‘Positively Mad’, and involved a lively presenter showing to the year the different ways in which they can revise for this summer’s exams. Ideas that went down well ranged from producing colourful mind-maps to acting out words and phrases. Watch and learn was the message, and if only half of the students in the year continue to use the revision techniques they practised on Wednesday then there should be fireworks a plenty when the GCSE results are released next summer."

Many thanks and we look forward to working with you again next year.
Dawn Athey - Wood Green School

Dear Lee

We were delighted with the content of the workshop and particularly pleased with the presenter. Sander fully engaged the audience throughout the two hours and the students certainly left more motivated and inspired than when they arrived. We were so impressed with the workshop that we would like to deliver the same session to the Year 11 students.

The impact of splitting the wood has had a profound impact on Sabana who how feels that she can conquer the world!

This is her evaluation:

“After the workshop I decided that I will grab every chance that comes my way and will ignore the risk of failure or rejection. The most important thing is to try.

I hope that everyone has the chance to be involved. Shoot your hand up to attempt to break the wood, trust me, it is one unforgettable experience. I think everyone can do it. You just need to believe in yourself and remember the two words “I CAN”.

At the beginning I seriously thought Sander had completely lost it. Crashing your hand through a piece of wood???? Talk about pain!! But, who knew confidence could grow so fast, in just two hours.

All I can say is missing the opportunity of attempting something due to fear of failure is actually failure itself”.

Best wishes

Jacky

From our perspective, last Wednesday went very well. Although Positively Mad have been into our school before, this was pretty much the first time we had manged a set-up like this. However, staff and students responded positively to the sessions led by Sandor and Jacqui on the day.

I was impressed by the energy shown by your presenters - this was crucial in keeping our students focused and, while the group in the afternoon were arguably a little more excitable, I felt that the presenters' focus and objectives kept them attentive throughout. In addition to this, we have heard from a number of parents informing us that their child went home after the day discussing new ideas.

I have already heard members of staff present say they have begun to implement one or two ideas taken from the session and the feedback from students has been generally enthusiastic. We are now in the process of finalising the lessons for our current Personal Development module, building on ideas presented last week. The fact that we were able to have the Year 11 form tutors present throughout the sessions - staff who teach across the curriculum - means that new ideas can be used across the school.

Many thanks.

Jonathan Chambers
Prince William School

Positively MAD, sensitive to the fragility of present economic markets and sympathetic to the needs of schools who are tightening their budgets, are pleased to announce the launch of our Student Coaching Products – a range of learn-it-yourself courses that schools can purchase in order to cut down on the costs of bringing in outside speakers year in and year out.

Every year, schools spend thousands of pounds paying for outside trainers to provide study skills seminars and workshops for their pupils.  This often means as much as up to £1500 per day’s training – which is a huge drain on any school’s resources. Now, with the credit crunch biting even harder on the economy, schools need to find ways to save money whilst still providing quality resources to their pupils and allowing them access to specialist training.

Which is why Positively MAD have created a unique range of learn-it-yourself student coaching programmes, priced at a fraction of the cost of usual external training.

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Many teachers who watch our courses and presentations to schools often wonder:
“Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do what they do: come into a school for a few hours, present a course to a year group, and then go back home again – without the bother of classroom behaviour, without the pressure of paperwork, lesson preparation and the demands of being a full time class teacher?”

For these teachers and those thinking of leaving the profession but not wishing to leave the field of education, we at Positively MAD may just have the solution you seek.

Towards an Effective Learning Environment:THE PRAISE MODEL

PRAISE is an acronym for a set of behaviours, strategies and structures which enable teachers to create learning environments that promote good practice and foster high achievement amongst pupils.  I have used these ideas myself in the fifteen years I spent as a primary and secondary classroom teacher, so they are not merely theoretical notions, but tried-and-tested approaches that are based on common sense and reflected practice.

At its simplest level, PRAISE stands for:

• P – promoting the positive
• R – reducing negative stress
• A – acknowledging the individual
• I  – illuminating the way forward
• S – structuring social interaction
• E – encouraging continuous improvement

Notice that the use of the present continuous is intentional. Having an effective learning environment is not something that, once it is created, can remain static. It is, like a living organism, something that needs to evolve and continuously adapt. Seeing it as a living entity allows us to realise that it needs to be nurtured, supported, nourished and perpetually enriched in order for it to function effectively.

Over the next five blogs, I will focus on each of these elements and provide easy-to-implement ideas that teachers can consider to enhance classroom practice.

As part of our expansion programme, Positively MAD is launching a number of subject specific teacher training courses.  These courses, aimed at both Primary and Secondary teachers, will allow us to provide a richer array of services for schools while enabling us to cement our already strong reputation in the marketplace.

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Dear Lee,

I am writing to thank you and pass thanks on to Sander for the excellent delivery to our Year 12 and 13 students. We had high expectations of the day, which were exceeded by the standard of delivery and the response of our students to the sessions. We have been getting very positive comments from the students who say they found the day very interesting.

We look forward to working with you in the future.

Kind regards

Elaine Luckham

Elaine Luckham

Aim Higher Co-ordinator

Learning Support & Mentoring Department

Sittingbourne Community College

Hi Ben,

We had a fantastic day with Kim and Jay. They are great. Kim had a chance to look at the evaluations for her sessions. They were without fail…all fantastic! We will do a ‘proper’ breakdown in the near future and feedback to your company, but I wanted to let you know how good the day was.

Please pass on our thanks to Kim and Jay for their handwork and 100% energy.

Thanks,

Jane Beaumont & Sandra Page (Dyslexia Service in Cornwall)

ISLAND-based education training company Positively MAD is celebrating this week, having recently given a presentation to its one millionth student.

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Dear Lee,

On Thursday Years 3 to 6 had Fast Track sessions and on Friday Years 7 and 8 had Study Skills sessions. Kim Shirley ran both days and a staff training session on the Thursday night.  I have received lots of positive feedback from both staff and pupils. The pupils really enjoyed doing something different and a break from routine and the staff could only marvel at Kim's energy and enthusiasm throughout the 2 days. Please thank her from all of St Edmund's Junior School. 
 
We are intending to hold these sessions every 2 years from now on and will be in contact when the time draws near!
 
Best wishes
 
Liz Swallow