Last week we had a great day with Shenaz around Resilience. It was superb for both pupils and staff. We will certainly be booking future sessions and have several actions to pursue, leading from the work done with Shenaz.

Course was well run and well-resourced and the message was clearly delivered to the children. Leader was lovely and very approachable, really engaged the children and helped them to easily understand a challenging topic.

Hello, today at around 9am someone came in to give a talk about resilience (I believe his name was Dave) and just wanted to say how brilliant it was. It was very educational and I know a lot of people took away some good advice including myself who is struggling with depression. I just wanted to say a massive thank you on behalf of myself and the level ******** students to this person for your visit.

Natalie was full of energy and she was able to provide some techniques for the pupils to use in daily life. Really enjoyed learning the different techniques. Natalie was a lovely lady and full of energy.

It was very engaging for all the tutor groups involved, also quite fun too. The Students definitely benefitted from the session. I liked how it covered the topics of exam resilience but also linked it in with other personal/social aspects. Kim used excellent strategies to engage the students, refocussing them and giving them appropriate time to complete activities, the quiz and competitive parts also worked well. 10/10

I felt the sessions benefitted my students and the workshop met all of my expectations. I thought the online engagement and hand on activities, bearing in mind it was delivered remotely, were fantastic. I thought the presenter was friendly and engaged well with our students. 10/10

Our students were provided with techniques to support their transition to KS5. It was great to have an outside speaker talking to the students. David was very friendly and knowledgable.We have really enjoyed the sessions David has done for us. We tried using the "hands up" icon on teams in the second session to allow David to see when the students were ready to move on. This would have helped in the first session as the students would have benefitted from more time to complete activities. In the second session I was amazed at the change in atmosphere in the room when David asked the students to take off their emotional backpacks. The students seemed uplifted by this process and the whole atmosphere in the room became much lighter.

Kim, forgive me for not writing to you to thank you on Friday. We wanted to say a huge thank you for the wonderful workshops you did – they made a big impact on staff and boys – and parents – and have given us a lot to think about and discuss in lessons. Thank you again for your huge effort, hard work and for sending through the power points.

The boys in each session were very enthused – the age range was from 7 – 13. Kim did really well adapting the two sessions to each age group – but each time the messages were equally clear and strong. The power point was excellent and backed up visually what Kim was saying – staff and boys have been talking about some of the points that came up, partly because the visuals were so strong and have helped us remember the content.

A good balance between Kim talking and getting the boys to participate – each session went quickly and enjoyably. Kim was in complete control of her content and audience. The parents at the last session were also engaged and enthused and Kim did well to pack the information into a tight 45 minute slot.

The sessions tied in very well to topics we have begun to explore in school – mindfulness, resilience. Having Kim gave us different angles to think about eg What does success look like? What are the chemical reactions that go on in the brain and influence our mood? Keep a bedtime diary of positive things to keep the “good” hormones in the front of your mind while you sleep. So lots of good ideas there for us.

Great pace and very informative, Natalie works extremely well with the girls and gets the very best out of them. Fab! 10/10

The Resilience INSET Day was an excellent course and staff were energized and motivated by the training. Kim was a first rate trainer who judged the mood of the staff well and ensured that the day met their needs. The resources provided were spot on and supported Kim’s delivery well. I would not hesitate to recommend this training to anyone. The day was well organized and passed really quickly. Momentum was kept up throughout the day and I can honestly say staff enjoyed every minute.

We were very pleased with the event and we felt that our students did benefit from this.

On Wednesday 3rd Feb Dave from the company Positively Mad joined us virtually to run sessions with years 10, 11, 12 and 13. The session was based on ‘Motivation’: No amount of badgering from teachers or parents can motivate a student in the same way that self-motivation can. Mastering Student Motivation is designed to inspire students of all ages to find their own reasons ‘Why’ they want and deserve to succeed, ‘Why’ they want to work hard and, indeed, ‘Why’ they should bother to get out of bed in the morning! This session was much needed for some students who are struggling with motivation with their remote learning, however, feedback from lots of students was that they enjoyed the session and found it really useful. Below are some quotes from students who took part: “I found this very helpful this lockdown is the one I’ve struggled most in, however the talk about motivation and how it is normal to be feeling that way is a relief. Motivation is my hardest component at the moment so it helped. Thank you.” “This really helped me to stay motivated!” “The workshop was great and was very helpful.” “It really got me thinking and has made me more positive and more motivated (that’s what it was for I know but it really has). I’m excited for the other part of the presentation on the 24th. I feel like everyone needed this. Thank you :)” Dave from Positively Mad has also been in touch to say how impressed he was by how the students joined in and their comments. As mentioned above Dave will be back on the 24th February to help with students’ resilience and we are all looking forward to this session.

The children were engaged for the whole session, we found the meditation and writing lists of ‘how to be more grown up’ the most useful and hope by using these in school and at home that they will have an impact. Rachel was brilliant, the children were really engaged and this morning were still talking about the workshop. Some children even asked their parents to write down things they have had a go at on their own at home to show their teacher. Thank you!

Shenaz was fantastic, the students benefited massively from the session. The engaging nature of the session and the fact that students took advice away that will make a difference. The bespoke approach that Shenaz took- she took time to learn students' names and stayed and talked to those that wanted to. She was incredibly organised and made the event stress free. 10/10

An excellently run course, Kim was very enthusiastic. She was very strong,but fair with some of our students which was good. I believe the timing of the course was well placed, as the pupils are just to start their GCSE courses.

As you know Natalie has provided so far one crash course on Accelerated Learning and yesterday Resilience and Mental Health. I just want you to know that she is a fantastic provider, she is so engaging, full of enthusiasm and you could listen to her all day. The comments so far I have received from the NQT's on the evaluation forms all say this plus more. Even though I am not a teacher, I could listen to her all day, my mind never wandered once throughout the course, like sometimes it does as you well know if the provider has a drab voice, or doesn't make the content exciting and interesting. Here are a few comments I have taken from the evaluation forms I have received back. "The course provider was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and upbeat" "Very engaging, most enjoyable and useful course so far. Uplifting" "The course made me learn to be positive about ourselves, children in class and people around us" "This will have a positive impact on my mindse". "Very informative, would highly recommend it for future NQTs" "The course provider was wonderful. She had a relaxed approach and was really engaging as she was clearly passionate about what she was teaching us" "Natalie provided the training in a very eloquent and engaging way. She included a wide range of activities and kept us focus during the whole training" I am very pleased I have found your company Positively Mad and Natalie, a wonderful find.

Pitched at exactly the right level for our students. The speaker was very adaptable and appeared very organised right from the start. A great presenter! A+ 9/10

ROAD TO RESILIENCE PACKAGE: In terms of the staff CPD staff felt that the sessions were informative and expertly delivered, one staff member said that it was the best CPD that they have had in 25 years of teaching. Staff did feel that the CPD could have been condensed from 4 hours to 3. In terms of the parental twilight, the session was very useful for parents and really helped parents to think about how to support their child with their level 3 studies. The student sessions helped us to embed our ethos of growth mindset and resilience to all our students and also taught them specific skills that will help them to cope throughout their time at college, but these students will also now have these skills for life. Shenaz was so enthusiastic and this was infectious, she was fantastic with staff, students and parents and we would recommend this session unreservedly to others.

The workshops were fantastic. Steve is a brilliant presenter and worked really well with the learners. College learners can be a tough crowd and he managed them wonderfully keeping them engaged and feeling part of the event. Everything ran smoothly and was even better than expected; very professional and worth every penny. 10/10

Brilliantly delivered by Nat Dee. Her engagement with all of her audiences was exceptional and she was able to alter her tone and level of delivery according to her audience. Her energy was brilliant. My colleague commented on what a lovely person she was and we have also had good anecdotal feedback.

Natalie was a superb presenter, delivering both workshops with genuine enthusiasm. She pitched both workshops perfectly to the different age groups (Year 8 and Year 10) and the interactive format kept all the girls engaged throughout. Thank you. To quote an email from a parent in an email already received the day after the workshop: “[She] came home more resilient! [She] said the resilience session and presenter were “captivating.”” (Year 8 parent from Resilience workshop)

Both courses were very intensive, detailed with lots of good strategies to help combat anxiety, develop resilience and to introduce different methods of revising. 2 very good enjoyable sessions. The Upper 6 in particular enjoyed Rachel’s workshop and felt she communicated very well with the girls

The day was really informative and engaging. Staff feedback is overwhelmingly positive with everyone taking away action points and ideas to carry out both within their classroom and personally. Natalie’s presentation style was a good mix of seriousness balanced with upbeat, informal anecdotes and great ideas. The information within the course made us think more deeply about our own mental health and well being as well as the impact on, and signs for, young people’s mental health. Many staff have already implemented some of the ideas with their classes.

Shenaz was engaging, non-stop, pacey and really bought into what our students needed. She was very impressive indeed. The principles of developing greater resilience for our students was well presented. 10/10

As always, the workshops catered perfectly to the needs of our students. The resilience strategies were accessible by all students and will be re-inforced during the tutor group sessions throughout the year. Our students were engaged throughout and the skill of the presenter meant that the sessions were very subtly adapted depending on differences in the audience participation – ie. If students indicated they were on a Uni progression pathway, the guidance was ever so slightly different to those on an apprenticeship or employment pathway. The information shared was backed up with research which enabled our students to ‘believe’ in the guidance and this was a key point for us, the strategies were not only ‘common sense’ they also had a robust grounding in Neuro-science and Psychology research. Our students are a tough audience and they responded to the academic insight which our trainer provided. As this was the 2nd time we have used Positively Mad, we believe it was really beneficial to have Shenaz once again, as she was familiar with the setting and the academic ‘context’ of the college. She knew the structure of the pastoral team and this enabled her to connect with the students as someone who ‘got’ where they were coming from. Also, as she has a spookily good memory, she even recognised students from the sessions last year who were not even in her workshops and this was a really positive experience for them. The equipment and room set-up was not overly disruptive and the whole 3 days went without a hitch. 10/10

Kim is a fantastic trainer and can really manage the crowd. The Year 11 course was spot on and student feedback has been positive. Staff are keen to use the ideas they witnessed too.

I wanted to quickly get in touch with feedback from our Resilience workshop with Shenaz yesterday evening (Year 12 and 13 SEREN Gwynedd and Anglesey). The learners respond really well to Shenaz and engage with the online content throughout the session - lots of discussion happens in the chat box which is great. Here is some feedback that came in from the learners themselves: Thank you very useful! This has honestly been so helpful and RELATABLE Very useful and informative I thought it was all very helpful, apart from the spoiler, but that's ok! Thank you for the session, can't wait for the next one :) Really useful thank you! Very useful Thank you so much! We have a Making Informed Decisions workshop with Kim tomorrow evening so we are looking forward to that.

Our year 8 students had a workshop with Natalie today. The year 8's thoroughly enjoyed the workshop as did our staff! Natalie was fantastic, she had the attention of our students all the way through. We are not sure where she gets her energy.

The workshop was really informative and engaging. Age appropriate considering challenging things discussed. The children surprised themselves with the amount of information they retained. Interesting to open conversations for children to speak open and honestly about themselves. Where some of our children struggle to sit for long periods of time there could be a few more opportunities for the pupils to move around. Really informative, children were able to reflect upon themselves and teachers found it thought provoking. Easy to set up and well organised. 10/10

It was lovely to meet you on Thursday. Thank you for the fabulous sessions you ran. The informal feedback I have had has been entirely positive, with requests for you to return again in the future. "The best CPD session we have had in years" was one quote. I will get wider feedback after the Easter break and come back to you with further at this time. I really appreciate that you took the extra time to travel to Suffolk New College, as were the teams that had met you on previous visits.

Below is feedback from the resilience workshop that was deliver to Years 8, 9 and 10 on Friday 29th January, 2021. All three sessions were fantastic. Each Head of Year thought that the presenter (Shenaz) was brilliant and made the workshop as interactive for the students as possible. Pupils really got a sense of how important it is to be a resilient person. They were given practical ways to overcome stress and anxiety when they are faced with adversity. I was really impressed with the personal touch that Shenaz put on the session, talking about her own life experiences and times when she has had to be resilient; this really made it relatable to the students. I also loved how she pitched it perfectly to each age group! I would give Shenaz a massive 10/10. The day was very well structured and went off without a hitch. Students were engaged and loved doing something different to their normal lessons. A piece of feedback that I got from the students was that “it didn’t feel like 80 minutes, the time flew by and we really enjoyed it”; always a good indicator if they don’t realise how long the session was. I would definitely recommend this to other schools/colleagues thinking of doing something similar.

The course was just the right balance of useful information, fun games and great ideas that can be implemented in the classroom. Most importantly it helped all of us to think about how resilient we really are and what we can do to look after our own mental health. Everyone loved Rachel and found her extremely engaging and inspiring. We could feel her passion for what she was doing and it inspired most of us to take serious action to start taking better care of our mental health and wellbeing. After all, how can we look after our students mental health if we don’t know how to look after our own. We will be looking into how we can make use of the Big Top model with the children.

It exceeded our expectation. Great fun and very interactive. Had no idea we’d be standing up and making ‘moves’. The students’ reactions were hilarious! The mind map worked brilliantly. They absorbed all of the information and were able to answer the questions at the end. The fun interactive ‘movement’ tasks were a great way of waking them all up from staring at their screens too. Shenaz was fun, lively and engaging. 9/10

It was a very good session and thank you for being flexible and meeting our needs (even when we changed our minds). All your staff were very accommodating and professional from Ben in the office who processed our order to Natalie and Kim who delivered the sessions. 10/10

Once again the workshops exceeded my expectations in terms of engagement given the online platform. The energy and enthusiasm Kim brought to the sessions was a joy to watch. 10/10

• Information was well suited to age group and there was good variation of tasks and stimuli • Content was relevant and interesting • Messages were very positive about how to deal with tough situations, how to be respectful and determined through life • Pupils were engaged for the whole period, listening and participating in equal measure. This was particularly highlighted when pupils were taught how to count to 10 in Japenese – whole cohort were out of their seats and taking part • Presenter was very engaging, funny and used lots of personal experiences to put points across • Presenter interacted well with pupils and the pupils responded well to her • Presenter was enthusiastic and positive • Pupils were engaged and responded well • Shenaz was a high energy, inspirational person who appeared to get the pupils fully engaged in activities. She made learning easy and enjoyable an I’m sure was contributing to pupils’ positive approach • Shenaz had a great rapport with the pupils and they responded well to her

It was great to work with Natalie beforehand to tailor the sessions to our live online delivery needs. Natalie’s enthusiasm is infectious. Her delivery is so engaging. The content was so useful and relevant and we plan to run these sessions again next year. 10/10

The staff really enjoyed the training and were inspired by Kim, she was full of energy and had frequent, short brain gym exercise for everyone to follow, which kept us all alert and motivated. Her presentation and delivery was impeccable and really informative, we all gained a good insight into how to make mind maps a key tool for learning in different areas of the curriculum.

Students found it informative and beneficial, it was delivered well with a clear message. On time, arrival set up easy and engaged the students

I thought it was helpful how we now know how our brain works, it was really great thank you so much. I liked when we talked about how to cope with things. I enjoyed the part about the brain's chemicals, the circle of control and the swim breathing was really helpful

The workshop was informative, giving accessible knowledge and strategies to all our staff. The workshop was on Monday and by Tuesday, many staff were commenting on ideas and strategies they would personally be using and those they’d be sharing and supporting our children with. For what could be a sensitive topic, Shenaz presented the material in a clear and understandable way. Shenaz ensured the day would be successful by getting to know the school and its requirements, prior to arriving. Shenaz quickly gets to know people and puts them at ease, which then allows for open discussion; Shenaz is a great ambassador for Positively MAD. Please pass on our thanks.