The Friyay Mindset - Issue #13

April 30, 2021

Hello everyone and happy Friday! Brew up, find a quiet spot and give yourself five minutes to decompress with this week's newsletter. We've got some good stuff to share now and in the coming weeks.

We've been really focused on transition. What does a good transition to KS4 look like? (From 9 to 10, or indeed from 10 to 11.) And what does a good transition to 6th form look like? (Martin has been running some sessions with year 11s recently, exploring this idea, and giving them 6 tricks and tactics to begin using in the summer term of year 11.) Most importantly - what does this process of transition look like in a Covid context?

So in the next few weeks, we'll be looking at transition through the lens of VESPA, making some observations and suggestions under each element of the model, and sharing some new activities.

We've never published these anywhere before. If you had a go at them with a class, you'd be among the first to try them (after us...). So please give us some feedback and suggest alterations! ([email protected] to say hello)

Here’s something to try…

First up is the turn of Vision. We've been writing a lot of new activities, and the one we're going to share with you is a new one. This is not a short-term goal-setting activity like The Road Map (from The GCSE Mindset). We're going bigger here; looking at motivation, self-awareness, attitudes, values, and perceptions of the world of work. High vision students often know what they want because they know themselves. And for year 11s looking at a long summer ahead, these questions are good ones to tackle now.

So this activity, 'Lifestyle Envy vs Job Envy' is a big picture activity that is designed to encourage lots of discussion and reflection. It might not create sudden epiphanies or life-changing revelations - though it might - but it will help create a climate in which goal-setting, aspiration and discussions of the future are normalised.

Let us know what you think!

What kind of lucky break would make you envious?

Something we’ve been reading…

You know that experience of reading a book and thinking 'Yes - that's it exactly!' - the author manages to capture a feeling or suspicion you've had but never quite been able to effectively express? Steven Pressfield's work did this to us; it made sudden sense of lots of self-sabotaging student behaviour. In The War of Art, Pressfield introduces the idea of 'resistance'; an internal force we feel within us, often manifested as a critical voice, that prevents us doing the things we really should. The book is short, super-simple, written in crystal clear prose, and there are sudden revelations on every page. You'll never listen to student excuses the same way again. Highly recommended!

Here’s our latest offer…

If you're looking for a tool to identify your students' strengths and weaknesses before transition, you might find our VESPA questionnaire and bespoke MyVESPA course really helpful. If you're interested, please get in touch at [email protected]. You can view the programme below.

Have a great weekend!

Steve & Martin

Our new online portal has been developed to maximise student independence. Once the students have been registered on the platform they can login and complete their VESPA questionnaire on any device. They will gain immediate access to their results and a bespoke student and tutor report. Staff can also be uploaded to the portal and access the results of their teaching groups and are able to view a breakdown of all results and reports. This makes coaching conversations quick, easy and highly productive. If you sign up for the Silver or Gold packages students gain access to a bespoke, online programme, generated for them from their results. This is ideal for an independent pastoral programme, which can be delivered on-site or remotely. Try our questionnaire below to view a sample report.