Dear Parents,
Tonight's letter is a longer one than usual, but it carries just about everything I have been promising to tell you for weeks. There are dates in here you will want in the family calendar, and one thing I need from you by next Sunday. So do pour yourself a proper cup of tea and please read to the end. 😊
The past few weeks
The past few weeks have been rather wonderful for both clubs. We had our second market at the start of July, and the young founders showed up with new ideas of their own and noticeably more confidence than last time. I was really proud of them. Over in Rise to Lead, we have been hard at work on the presentations, and the children are ready for tomorrow evening. And then yesterday we took a Configur Academy stall to the St Margarets Fair, where some of the young founders fought the midday heat to sell, talk to customers, and have a lovely day of it.
We even had a visit from Munira Wilson, the MP for Twickenham, who took a real interest in what the children are doing. There is more good news coming on that front, so do watch this space. 😊
Young Founders House - Money and Business Club
Young Founders House has its last in-person session of the term this Thursday, 16 July, at The Patch, as normal. And then, for the first time, the club carries on through the summer: 5 online lessons on Zoom, Thursdays from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM. I will send the Zoom link in our WhatsApp group and to your email before each lesson.
Each lesson takes one of the jars further than we could go in term time:
Thursday 23 July - Spend and Save. We start with the tricks built to take their money, 99p endings, loot boxes, free games that are not free: I put 5 real offers on the screen, and their job is to shout the trick. Then the waiting game, £1 now or £1.50 in September, and every child leaves with a savings goal written down for the summer.
Thursday 30 July - Give. The week they learn to use their Give jar well, starting with the only question a charity needs: if I give you £1, what happens to it. Each child gets 10 seconds to sell the room on a real local cause, the room votes, and the Give Pot is handed over in person at the September market.
Thursday 6 August - Invest. Their first business ran on a loan from you; this time each child works out whether their own Invest jar covers their materials for the September market. Investing, felt rather than explained: money goes out so that more comes back.
Thursday 13 August - Buy for £2, Sell for £5. Where cheap things that sell for more actually hide, charity shops, car boots, multipacks split into singles. I hold up an item, they guess its value, we check what it really sold for on eBay, and the closest guess wins, postage and fees in the sums.
Thursday 20 August - The Online Stall. A walk around where things actually sell, eBay, Aliexpress, Vinted, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, and the 5-second photo test, the same object photographed well and badly. Then every child writes a listing title for a mystery item, and the room picks the one they would click.
The children are then off from 21 August, with everything pointed at the market on Sunday 13 September. And a note for your peace of mind: all the browsing in these lessons happens on my screen, the children never open accounts or selling sites themselves, and anything real runs through you.
The Young Founders Market - a new seasonal calendar
Thank you so much to everyone who voted on how often the market should run. Nearly every vote went the same way, every 3 months, and 3 hours was the majority to make up for less frequent markets. So the monthly market makes way for 4 proper seasonal events a year, each one planned as a real community day with live music, important guests, and a few more surprises I will tell you about in the weeks to come. That does mean there is no market in August; the next one is Sunday, 13 September. Here is the year ahead:
The Young Founders Harvest Market - Sunday 13 September 2026, 12:00 to 3:00 pm.
The Young Founders Christmas Market - Sunday 13 December 2026, 12:00 to 3:00 pm.
The Young Founders Spring Fair - Sunday 14 March 2027, 12:00 to 3:00 pm.
The Young Founders Summer Fête - Sunday 13 June 2027, 12:00 to 3:00 pm.
More details on each market’s theme and descriptions can be found here: https://configuracademy.com/young-founders-market/
Rise to Lead - Public Speaking, Confidence and Leadership Club
Tomorrow, Monday 13 July, is our last Rise to Lead session of the term, and the one it has all been building towards. The children will have their session as normal, stay on with me for a celebratory dinner from 5:00 to 6:00, and from 6:00 pm, you are warmly welcome at The Patch for their presentations. After all those weeks of scripts, rewrites, run-throughs, and slides, I can tell you they are ready, and I think you are in for a treat. Both parents are very welcome, grandparents and siblings too.
I will record each child's presentation and send it to you privately afterwards, so you have it to keep. If you would rather your child was not recorded, do let me know before tomorrow evening.
2 new clubs for September
As promised, I have been working hard behind the scenes, on the new Configur Academy website and on the 2 new programmes I said I would reveal, both starting in September. I built them because of what I see every day in my other work: AI is changing the workplace, changing our personal lives, changing the world our children will grow up into. And I keep coming back to the same belief, that a child's mind is a muscle. Feed it the right skills and work it constantly, not for a month or 2 and then done, and it grows. These are skills worth learning at any age, and better still from primary age. I am on a mission with these 2.
The Detective Club - Critical Thinking, Reasoning and Problem Solving
Mondays, 5:30 to 6:30 pm at The Patch, from September.
This club builds those skills the only way children actually take them in: by having fun. Every Monday there's a sealed case file on the table, and the children work in teams to crack it. Evidence to weigh, a witness to cross-question, numbers to work through, a verdict to defend out loud. An hour of proper reasoning and problem solving every week. Ask the children, and they'll tell you they solve mysteries. 😊
You can read more here: https://configuracademy.com/the-detective-club/
Configur AI Junior - AI Literacy, Ethics and Judgement
Thursdays, 5:30 to 6:30 pm at The Patch, from September.
Every week, a parent tells me 2 things in the same conversation. They don't want their child left unprepared for AI, and they worry about what growing up with it will do to their child's development. I hear you. I'm a parent too, and that is exactly why this club exists.
Here, children learn what AI really is: a machine that does not think, know, understand, or feel, and is never a friend. They learn how it manipulates and how to catch it doing so. How to tell AI-made from real. How to build with it, when it is genuinely useful, and how it can sharpen their work and their thinking. And, most importantly, when to put it away and use their own brain, because that is the muscle these years exist to build.
You can read more here: https://configuracademy.com/configur-ai-junior/
For children doing both Monday clubs, Rise to Lead and The Detective Club, and both Thursday clubs, Young Founders House and Configur AI Junior, I will provide a light dinner of sandwiches, fruit, and drinks from 5:00 to 5:30, so your child stays with me for the whole afternoon and you collect them once, at 6:30 pm.
And for the children I collect from school, Mondays and Thursdays will look like this: pick up from school at 3:15 to 3:30, walk to The Patch, snack from 3:45 to 4:00, Rise to Lead/YFH from 4:00 to 5:00, dinner from 5:00 to 5:30, The Detective Club/Configur AI Junior from 5:30 to 6:30, and collection from The Patch at 6:30 pm.
Your September places
Rise to Lead and Young Founders House carry on on the same days and at the same times as this term, and as promised, I will honour the pricing and collection arrangements we have had all term. I currently collect from St Mary's, the Middle and Junior sites, and I am very happy to add other schools wherever 5 or more children need collecting from the same place on both days.
Both clubs were fully booked last term, so before anything opens to the waiting list, I want my current families to have first pick of your existing places and of the 2 new clubs. Could I kindly ask that you let me know your plans by Sunday, 19 July?
I will put a short link in our WhatsApp group so you can let me know your plans, and it takes 2 minutes, I promise. As you may have seen on the website, I have not opened bookings to new families yet, but I will have to from Monday 20 July, so do get in touch before then. I will send a reminder towards the end of the week, so please bear with me. 😊
Dates for the Diary
Rise to Lead Presentations
Monday 13 July, from 6:00 pm at The Patch
Last session as normal, celebratory dinner for the children from 5:00 to 6:00, parents warmly welcome from 6:00 pm for the presentations.
Young Founders House
Thursday 16 July, last session of term at The Patch, as normal
Summer lessons on Zoom: Thursdays 23 July, 30 July, 6 August, 13 August, and 20 August, 10:00 am, 45 minutes
September places
Sunday 19 July: let me know your plans
Monday 20 July: bookings open to new families
Young Founders Market
Next Market - Sunday 13 September, 12:00 to 3:00 pm at The Patch (no market in August)
Check our new website here: https://configuracademy.com/
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