Alan Black tells us more about what happened on his visit to Woodfarm High School

• Lateral thinking- I highlighted that although thinking in a logical manner is clearly effective that it is equally valid to think laterally. Students were taken through some examples of 'Thinking out of the box' and given some problems to solve.

• Carried out an exercise on Speed Reading and spoke about organising your time more effectively. 

•  Stressed the importance of how your attitude has a major part to play in your development. In particular the language we use, the negativity of others and the importance of dealing with a tendency to be too self-conscious. Students were shown a video clip of an experiment with twins to demonstrate these elements.

• Students were taken through a goal setting exercise, stressing the importance of writing down goals.

• Team building activity- Students were set a task where they had to work as a team. They were given specific roles within their team with one person monitoring how the group members performed individually and as a team. Feedback was then given with the emphasis being on the importance of standing back on occasions and listening to others.