The Mind at Work has collaborated with long-term business partner A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd to pilot a pioneering schools programmes that helps children develop the resilience, attitudes and behaviours for success.

Helping You Succeed was launched at Pool Hayes Academy, in the West Midlands, with a purpose to nurture the character traits and non-cognitive skills of young people to enhance their opportunities to succeed in life and work.

A total of 31 Year 7 students, aged 11 to 12, participated in the pilot, which included topics such as exploring identity, developing self-awareness, creating a learning mind-set, choosing purpose, the power of commitment and bouncing back from setbacks.

Students were split across two cohorts and received 12 one-hour sessions at school, which were delivered by a member of The Mind at Work team and a trained facilitator from A.F. Blakemore.  

Students received one-to-one coaching from the delivery team during the programme and sessions were also undertaken with parents and teachers to provide them with an insight into the material the students would be seeing and talking about.

The Mind at Work’s Paul Cowley, who helped co-ordinate and deliver the programme said: 

“It has been fascinating to see the students grow and develop throughout the 12-weeks and to witness the level that they have absorbed and applied their learning to their daily lives. 

“We are now looking to develop this programme further in 2020 and explore ways that Helping You Succeed can have a greater impact upon more young people in the future.”

A.F. Blakemore’s HR Business Partner Liz Blakemore commented:

“I have seen first-hand within the business the difference the work that we undertake with The Mind at Work can have on our leadership team and senior managers. We have also seen the difference it makes to graduate recruits.

“With that in mind, and also the Department of Education and Ofsted expressing the importance of resilience in schools, we decided to launch Helping You Succeed.”

The pilot programme has received strong feedback from students, parents and teachers who noted improvements in students, confidence, motivation and resilience.