Configur Academy - Autumn Term, Weeks 1 and 2

Dear Parents,

This is Orgesa from Configur Academy. Our first 2 weeks are behind us, the first market of the year too, and there is a brand new club to tell you about. I will start with Rise to Lead.

What a start to the term we have had. Seeing so many old friends and meeting so many new ones in our first sessions was wonderful, and we loved it. We started by dividing into teams, every team chose a colour and a name, and we have Blue Seals, Exotic Kiwis, Dancing Fire, and many more. We played some games too, and those I will leave for the children to tell you, because underneath all the laughing, each one was quietly doing a job.

And they worked out for themselves why speaking clearly matters, with no lecture from me. Our rules do the rest: trying is always encouraged, passing is always allowed, and nobody is ever made to speak. I strongly believe confidence is not something a child is simply born with. It is far more like a muscle, something they build a little more every single week, and that is exactly what these children have started doing.

It has been wonderful to have so many of our old friends back, and to get to know so many new ones. And then there was the market. What a day. So many people came through the doors and got properly sold to by our Young Founders. Old friends knew exactly what to do and invited everyone over to their stalls, and our new friends gave it a real go. The day was buzzing, children in and out of the arts and crafts, the face painting and our detective cases, and from all the feedback since, you loved it too. Thank you for coming, and for everything you did to get them there. 😊

As promised, every child who completed a detective case at the market is in our big prize draw, with more chances at our events between now and the start of December, when we do the draw. The winner collects their prize at our December market on Sunday 13 December, 12:00 to 3:00 pm at Patch.

Back in the club, we did our market analysis, what went well, what needs to change, and our prices, and the word of the day was PROFIT. Through games and a few exercises, the children worked out what profit is, why the price has to sit above the cost, and how to calculate it. I am looking forward to our next session.

I want to start here with a thank you. The feedback from you and from the children about this club has been so lovely and so generous, thank you for embracing it the way you have. So much so that we are opening a second Detective Club, on Wednesdays, 5:00 to 6:00 pm at St Stephen's Church on Richmond Road in East Twickenham, starting Wednesday 30 September. I am announcing it here first, so if your child would like a place or a taster, just reply to this email or send me a text. All the details are at configuracademy.com/the-detective-club.

In the club itself, the children walked in as children and left as detectives, with badge numbers of their own, and they have already got stuck into their first case, the mystery of the The Stolen Idea. 😉

I cannot tell you how much I love this club. It is exactly what I wished my 10-year-old daughter had had before her first phone and everything that came with it, and I am very pleased she has it now.

I started it thinking children this age would not know much about AI and life online, because most do not have a phone yet. I was so wrong. What they know comes from older friends, and quite often it is the wrong things. So our first sessions have been about putting the big ideas straight. AI is not your friend, it is not a person, it is a machine. Then we learned how to talk to one. In The Robot game the robot does exactly what you say and nothing more, and the comedy did the teaching, because they found out very quickly what one missing instruction costs. Those ideas have stuck, and I hear them coming back word for word. 😊

The Detective Club on Wednesdays (new)

Half term and INSET day

Young Founders Market

Check our new website here: https://configuracademy.com/

Thank you so much again for your support. I do not take it lightly. I would love it if you could give me some feedback on the form below. I read every one, and it helps me make these programmes better for our children. I certainly do not take anything personally, so please do complete it. 🙂 It helps me more than you can imagine, and if you could leave a testimonial too I would be extremely grateful: feedback.configuracademy.com

Have a lovely week.That is everything from this week. As always, if you have a question about either programme or if there is anything you would like to talk through, you can reply to this email or message me directly on 07414 962803.

If you have missed any of our previous newsletters, you can catch up on them all here:
https://newsletter.configuracademy.com/

Have a lovely week.

Orgesa
Founder,
Configur Academy
Wesbite: www.configuracademy.com
Instagram @configuracademy
Facebook @configuracademy