REVIEWS: More Testimonials From Very Happy Clients

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Dear Positively MAD,

Sandwich Junior School has benefitted greatly from its association with the Positively MAD organisation.  Their In-Service training is of the highest quality and it is pleasing to see a company that is prepared to demonstrate with real children how their techniques actually work, rather than just dealing in theory.

We are now a "Positively MAD" school, whereas in the past we might have been described as just "mad"!  Our teachers now regularly apply the many memory-enhancing techniques that they have learnt, brain breaks are commonplace, the children's work often contains mind maps, music can be heard playing in every classroom and there is a great deal of laughter.

More importantly, our children's ability to learn and retain information has definitely been enhanced.  In assemblies we even have a "Positively MAD" cheer.  What's that?  Well why not book them and find out.  I guarantee your school will enjoy discovering the many simple but effective techniques that put the fun back into learning.

Gary Rees
Head Teacher
Sandwich Junior School
 

 Positively MAD

I first heard about Positively MAD at a meeting of Headteachers in the Coventry Education Action Zone.  At this point I knew nothing about accelerated learning techniques, but on the recommendation of another school I decided it would be worth investigating, especially as the EAZ were paying!  The reaction of some of my colleagues back at school was somewhat sceptical, we had just had and Ofsted inspection and some of them were in no mood for any further excitement!

Nevertheless we arranged for Positively MAD to work with our Key Stage 2 children (5/6 in the morning & 3/4 in the afternoon) and take and INSET session with all staff after school.  I was a little suprised when only one person arrived, as I had expected a theatre company!  However, our 5/6 children who are a pretty volatile lot were soon gripped, learning about the secrets of how to remember a shopping list, the countries of the European Union and the order of the planets from the sun. 

I would not have believed it possible for one person to engage them so totally for a whole morning.  It was the same with the children in Years 3 & 4 in the afternoon, they had a great time using mind mapping techniques to learn about the first moon landing, how to count to ten in Japanese and a story to help remember different historical periods.

The Staff gathered at the end of the day, somewhat tired as is the norm for overworked primary teachers.  Again I was impressed at how quickly they responded to Brain Gym, penguin races and number shapes.  It was really stimulating and everybody enjoyed it.  As a result, two of our staff have undertaken further ways of applying these techniques to teaching and learning in the classroom.

I have already seen some hard evidence of the possibilities, a child who is a very poor speller proudly came up to me in the playground and explained that "Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants".  Another class were able to use actions and stories to demonstrate the functions of the parts of a plant and actions to show the different shapes of magnets along with a mnemonic using different volumes to show which metals are magnetic.  As a staff we are now much more aware of using a number of learning techniques to facilitate learning across a range of children.

Positively MAD have worked at a number of Coventry schools and everyone I speak with who has had them working with their children has the same verdict, they are very, very good, but be warned, you will probably be so hooked that you will want to find out a lot more!

Steve James
Head Teacher
Alderman's Green Community Primary School
Coventry
 

 Fun and incredibly informative!  I would recommend the Positively MAD Teacher Training Programme to anyone interested in acquiring innovative strategies to enhance students' learning (while actually enjoying the process).  I particularly valued the expertise and enthusiastic style of delivery of the MAD presenters and their very obvious understanding of young people's and adults' learning needs.  The resources we were given were first class, providing a detailed account of the material covered on the programme along with additional ideas for use with either students or staff.  An absolute MUST for any teacher open to new ideas

Jane Birkin, teacher