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Sander De Groot, our esteemed Head of Training recently delivered the first Certificated Practitioner Course of the year to a small group of new Positively Mad Licensees in Oxford.
A Certificated Practitioner Course is the new name for our very popular Certificated Coaching Courses, which enable delegates to gain a deeper understanding and product knowledge of our specific student coaching opportunities. Using his usual flair for effective delivery, he captured the attention of all the delegates and guided them through the Goal Mapping process with patience and clarity. Afterwards, we asked the delegates to provide a star rating, and a reason for their rating – and here is what they awarded the course.

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Positively MAD has been hard at work piloting and refining a new set of primary presentations which will inspire and motivate pupils at Key Stage 2 to see learning as a joyous and fun experience. Called the Creative Approaches to Learning workshops, these new courses offer primary schools an affordable and exciting learning opportunity.

Last year  Aimhigher – the organisation responsible to encouraging students to pursue Higher Education – approached Positively MAD to ask us to develop English and Science Workshops for Year 10 and 11 students.

The task was handed over to former teacher and programme designer Alan David Pritchard, and the result was the Hooks, Lines and Thinkers workshops, which were originally trialled in Surrey and then delivered as far north as Preston.

On 29 January 2010, Alan David Pritchard, the creator of the 6S Study Skills System delivered a practitioner workshop for new PosMAD licensees at the Holiday Inn, Oxford.

The Certificated Practitioner Course allows delegates to experience the coaching programmes the way the students would, with the added benefit of being able to share ideas with other licensees and colleagues regarding delivery and application.

The feedback that Alan received shows that the delegates really enjoyed their training experience, finding it both highly inspirational and very entertaining. Here is a collection of their 5 star reviews:

Dear Passionate Educator

Mention the word ‘study’ to most young people and many will immediately associate it with drudgery, hard work and stress.
So how do you get your year group to regard study as something which is enjoyable, enriching and worthwhile?        
How do you encourage them to use more efficient and speedier methods to make studying easier and more effective?
You don’t.
You get us to do it instead.

Positively MAD has been supporting the Aimhigher regional teams across the country in many different ways over the last 5 years: initially through the EIC networks, and ultimately now helping them achieve and succeed their Learner Progression Frameworks.

Word of our impact has spread – and this year we celebrate working with 15 Aimhigher regions across the UK.

 Early this year, we were approached by various National Challenge Co-ordinators to see how we could impact the targeted 653 schools that were identified as needing support in English and Science.
The aim was to help those students on the C/D borderline to improve their chances of getting A-C’s in their examinations. Positively MAD was asked to create courses that would revitalise the students’ interest in learning and boost their levels of confidence and enjoyment.

We responded to this challenge by creating the Hooks, Lines and Thinkers English and Science Workshops, which we piloted to a few schools in Surrey.

Our trio of secondary student seminars called Mastering Student Motivation, Super Speed Study Skills, and Exam Busters consistently delights and empowers audiences all over the country. These high-impacting presentations are delivered to whole year groups at a time and make such an impact that students write to sing our praises and let us know what an impression we have had on their lives.

We recently received this feedback from a Year 11 student, which exemplifies the sort of thing students say about their Positively MAD experience:

Every year, students and teachers provide us with fantastic feedback for our events, and 2009 has been no different – in fact, it has been something of a bumper year for terrific testimonials.  Here is a sample of some of the most gratifying feedback we have received:

As part of our development and expansion programme, Positively MAD has spent most of this year, recruiting and building a network of passionate and committed licensees who are able to generate an income using our company products and services.

When we started the process, we had no idea of the calibre person we would attract – and now, a year or so later, we have a network of passionate and committed partners – people who we are proud to be associated with. Our licensed partners consist of former teachers, life coaches, presenters, trainers – plus a host of highly talented people from other sectors of the business and educational world.

Our news and feedback this year has allowed us to mention our team of passionate presenters and creative course designers – and we are indeed impressed by their professionalism and commitment to changing students’ attitudes to learning.

However, there is another group of people – equally passionate and hard working – who rarely makes it into the spotlight, and without whom our successes as a company would not have been possible.

 As many of you may know, we work closely with LIFT International, the parent company of Brian Mayne’s Goal Mapping organisation – and they have very kindly made available their GOAL MAPPING REPORT free to Positively MAD members. 

This means that you can avail yourself of the wisdom and teachings of Brian Mayne as you consider your plans for the New Year and beyond.  You may even wish to goal map your new year’s resolutions to enable you to better achieve the changes you would like in your life.

Positively MAD always enjoys receiving positive feedback about its events. Recently, new presenter Andy Revell  presented the SuperSpeed Study Skills Course to year 11 students in Milton Keynes. We asked the organiser of the event to provide brief feedback and he wrote us this short note, singing Andy's praises.

Corin Mitchell, a senior member of our Sales Team, was recently invited to give a presentation to middle-school students about post-school experiences and career choices. Corin, who is not accustomed to presenting to large groups of students, delivered his presentation with flair and convinction, earning high praise from the event organisers and pupils alike. It is never easy keeping the attention of school students, and Corin did the company proud with his assured and captivating delivery.  Read on for the testimonial in full.

The CREATES TRAITS Mnemonic. This is a useful mnemonic for all Secondary students who are studying poetry. The mnemonic is a handy guide to answering questions regarding the poet’s method, and helps struggling students to structure their answers and thinking.

To download this resource, please click on the link below:

http://www.positivelymad.co.uk/resources/category.aspx?id=10

As you may well know, Positively MAD has been recruiting a number of highly creative, dynamic and passionate licensees who have been trained to deliver our two best-selling student coaching programs. We recently invited all licensees to share their success stories and experiences, and received this letter from Helen Turier who details her story as a Posmad Master Licensed Partner. In it she explains how she first trained her own children and the ripple effect that that had on getting her business started.

In my previous blog, I detailed how to establish a basic memory hook system in the minds of students studying the play Macbeth.

I also outlined the 5 ‘visits’ that formed the process for using memory hooks to teach the play.

•         Visit 1: Establish the hooks + confirm
•         Visit 2: Attach the images + confirm
•         Visit 3: Develop the images + confirm
•         Visit 4: Embellish the images + confirm
•         Visit 5: Consolidate the images + confirm

Visit 1 concerned establishing the hooks, so, in this blog, then, I will concentrate on VISIT 2, attaching the images.

Last month we ran what we thought would be our final Opportunity Event for this year. Our aim was to run them again from the middle of next year so that we could focus our energies of ensuring that our present batch of dedicated licensees can become even more successful.

Well, our energies will still very much remain focussed on supporting our licensees; however, due to popular demand and a high number of requests from interested individuals, we will be running another opportunity event for all those who have been unable to attend the previous events.

FREE RESOURCE: Parent-pupil Spelling Workbook (Booklet 3) 01 October 09

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BLOG: Alan David Pritchard Blog # 11: HOOKED ON MACBETH (2) 01 October 09

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NEWS: MASTERING STUDENT MOTIVATION – Are Your Students Intrinsically Motivated to Succeed? 01 October 09

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NEWS: Phase One of Partnership Development Plan Nears Completion. 01 October 09

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FEEDBACK: Sander De Groot Impresses Licensed Partners 03 September 09

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NEWS: MLPs Enjoy Partnership Training 03 September 09

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Teacher Training Courses

• Goal Mapping
• 6S Study Skills System

Student Seminars

• Super Speed Study Skills
• Mastering Student Motivation
• Exam Busters
• Creative Approaches to Learning Primary Package

Student Coaching

• Goal Mapping
• 6S Study Skills System