Testimonials
From Abigail Earley, Kelvin Hall School, Hull -
"Dear Thomas, I am just writing to thank you for the training you provided on Tuesday 8th September at Kelvin Hall School. All the feedback forms are in and the respomse was very positive from all staff. ' The best workshop of the day by far' was along the many positive comments. Staff have taken your advice and ideas on board and so far the behaviour system has been working very well. We all thoroughly enjoyed the day and all staff have benefited from your workshop and many staff have asked the head if you can return to do some more work with the school. I really can't thank you enough!
Best wishes and hope to work with you again soon
Abi Earley"
From Paul Birbeck, Swanmead Community School, Ilminster -
"Dear Elizabeth, I am writing to thank you for the outstanding quality of the training day which you led at Swanmead School on September 5th. Rarely in 3O+ years of teaching have I experienced a training day which has had such an immediate and fundamental impact upon a school.The staff have agreed to completely renew the Behaviour Policy and have gained confidence from the commitment shown by every employee. AD definitely provides a framework for fair and consistent practice to be adopted. Parents and pupils have already noticed a difference in school culture and ethos."
From Stuart Wilson, Head Teacher Featherstone Technology College -"Featherstone Technology College has had a long term professional relationship with Behaviour and Learning Management, which has allowed us to successfully introduce an effective Assertive Discipline system into the college that both focuses on the positive and has dramatically improved behaviour. A number of staff all participated in the training which we all found very clear and often inspiring. The practical examples gave us some excellent ideas for implementation into our own context.
It is rare to work with a trainer who is happy to be so adaptable with his material. On more than one occasion, Geoff Moss took on the needs of the group and modified his approach to allow us to really understand the key points. He even gave us extra time for structured reflection before moving on to the next idea. More recently, senior staff have benefited from the Behaviour and Learning Management’s Situational Leadership training which we are in the process of extending out to our middle managers. I wouldn’t go anywhere else!"
From Karsten Arne Krossnes, Team Leader Psychology and Counselling Services, Bergen, Norway -
"Dear Geoff, Thank you for three very inspiring days. I found that you were teaching on at least two levels - first about Assertive Discipline, you seem to have invented the stuff! - and then a lesson in how to deliver and inspire! Thank you."
From Linda Kirkwood, Rector, Oban High School -
"We have been using “Behaviour and Learning Management” for a number of years in Oban High. All staff have been trained in the Assertive Discipline® programme and new staff joining us are trained by our in-house trainers ("Masterclassers"). It has made an enormous difference to how our staff and pupils relate to each other and has developed a highly positive ethos. These training opportunities really work!"From Angela Lamond, Maidenhill School, Gloucester - "Geoff Moss's presentation on Assertive Discipline® ensured we had one of the most successful INSET days in a decade and the staff response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic and positive. I personally found it inspirational - a word reserved for very few occasions in a lifetime!"
From Elizabeth Cameron, Ayr Academy, Ayr - "South Ayrshire Educational Authority was advised to launch Assertive Discipline® throughout their schools. As an accredited leader of Assertive Discipline® it fell to me to motivate the individual schools. This was made so much easier due to the Assertive Discipline® Leader’s 5 CD pack that Behaviour & Learning Management had recently produced.
The new CD pack is wonderful! I was able to use the CDs to personalise the needs of each school. The CDs are so work-friendly; they are adaptable for InService purposes as well as suitable for individual information gathering.
I have been so impressed with the flexibility of this pack that my Educational Authority (South Ayrshire) has now purchased a set for every school in our Authority. This has freed up valuable personnel time as I am now able to respond to queries by highlighting a particular section of the pack to answer the questions raised by a school or a member of staff."
From John MacPherson, Lochgilphead High School, Argyll & Bute - "Please pass on my thanks to Geoff for his excellent input on the Succeeding With Difficult Students® course.
During the first two days following the training I have applied some of the techniques with very good results - I think even discussing one of the pupils in the way I was encouraged to reset for me some relationship parameters and made me focus again on what I really needed to do. I know it's early on (2 days application - I'm surprised and delighted at the impact speed) but for someone like me who has taught for 23 years with 'very good discipline' and 'excellent rapport' with pupils and works in senior management I am genuinely keen to move on, spread the word and enjoy the teaching and learning with those difficult classes."
From David Lord - "Hi John & Geoff, Thanks for a great Assertive Discipline Leader Certificate training in London. I had a great day and am looking forward to putting my new skills into practice."
From Colin Bartram - "I am currently a supply secondary science teacher. I taught at a tough inner city school for 20 years and have always loved teaching and put a lot of time into lesson preparation to make learning fun for my pupils. However the challenge of classroom behaviour management had lead me to feel that I cannot continue to teach, of feeling very tired at the end of the day resulting in marking and lesson preparation suffering.
I came across the Assertive Discipline text book on a shelf in the science department in my current school and took it home to read. I was immediately impressed by the ideas and decided to try them out. I went into my first day's teaching with my new strategies with enthusiasm. I had two year 11 classes and two year 10 classes ( I had been warned by one teacher whose class I was covering that they were particularly badly behaved). At the end of the day I felt I had really had a successful and enjoyable day's teaching. I had done nothing but hand out praise by concentrating on good behaviour. This made me feel good and the pupils had enjoyed their day. I went home feeling not at all tired and very happy!
I feel that every teacher should use the Assertive Discipline method I would certainly not be happy with my ability to continue teaching if I was not using it.
Whenever I have had a difficult day and am feeling bad about my ability to teach I love to pick up my Assertive Discipline book, it is so positive and reminds me of what I should be aiming towards and how I can get there. The book is very calming, it cheers me up and reminds me of why I came into teaching."
From Grace Dempster, Maxwelltown High School, Dumfries - "Chris Anderson and I both felt the 2 day 'Assertive Discipline Master Class' training was very good and gave us the confidence to pick up staff training in AD in our school. The folder containing copies of all the slides plus additional notes is very useful so you can remind yourself of some of the background to the slides.
The Assertive Discipline® Leader’s 5 CD pack is a very valuable resource which allowed us to edit the slide show and adapt the length so we could break the course down into a size suitable for short twilight courses or longer in-service days. We could choose which videos we wanted to use to illustrate the part of the course we were focusing on.
We could also adapt individual slides so they matched the discipline processes in our school. It is easy to print handouts of the course to allow staff to make notes and carry away all the important information they need. On the other hand schools could just use the slides as given, with Geoff’s commentary.
Chris and I have now run a variety of courses which have had very positive feedback from staff. We have been able to do short courses to introduce new staff to AD, but also courses to refresh staff on the aims and scripts of AD to keep it fresh in their minds!"
From William Borland, Carrickfergus College, Co. Antrim - "We have worked with Geoff Moss on three occasions and would recommend him very highly. His presentations are professional yet amusing and overall the training raised significant awareness across the school of the necessity for different leadership styles."
From Robert Colquhoun, Blantyre High School, South Lanarkshire - "Schools from all sectors in South Lanarkshire Council recently engaged in a Better Behaviour Better Learning Conference to review our practices across the Council.
A key feature of this review was the ongoing development of Assertive Discipline® Training and associated Behaviour Management Strategies in our schools. This work is founded in the excellent partnerships built up with the Behaviour & Learning Management team over a number of years. This event has proved to be of excellent value and the outcomes from it are currently being used to develop our strategic and operational plans for behaviour management in our schools.
The conference was led by Geoff Moss and, as ever, Geoff’s professional abilities and personal attributes accounted greatly for the success of the event.
South Lanarkshire will continue to engage in activities within the Better Behaviour Better Learning Agenda. It is an area of massive interest to staff, pupils and parents. The commitment of Geoff and all the Behaviour & Learning Management team is very much appreciated and we will continue to develop our excellent working links with them for the benefit of those in our care."
From Joe Smernicki, Arbroath Academy, Arbroath - "After an inspiring introductory presentation by Geoff Moss to all staff on the Assertive Discipline® approach to behaviour management, the school decided to roll out a programme of extended training.
About 50 teaching and non – teaching staff have been trained so far, including 10 to Master Class level and 2 to Leader’s Certificate level. All staff have been impressed by the potential for change in using an Assertive Discipline® approach to behaviour management.
Whilst we do not underestimate the challenges ahead of us in affecting change in pupil behaviour and staff performance, we are committed to this long term. We have already seen benefits throughout our school, and are confident that with our long term school strategy and support from Geoff and colleagues, the whole learning and teaching experience will be greatly enhanced for pupils and staff alike."
From Margaret Winton, Glashieburn Primary School, Aberdeen - "I have been totally inspired by the now numerous days that I have spent with the Behaviour & Learning Management team.
The content, the presentations and the personalities are excellent and I am delighted to share with you that I have indeed cascaded much of what I have learned to both the staff I work with directly and the wider associated schools group. I look forward to the team coming to present to my ASG next year."