Dear Parents,
Welcome to the summer term. Yesterday was, without question, one of my favourite kinds of sessions, the kind where you can feel a room settle into itself within the first twenty minutes.
We had returning children who walked in with the easy confidence of people who already know where they belong, and new children who, by the end of the hour, looked like they'd been here all along. That blend is not something you can plan. It either happens or it doesn't. Yesterday it happened, and I was genuinely glad to see it.
How we started
I asked our returning children to do something that sounds simple but isn't: stand up in front of everyone, introduce themselves, and share one thing they remembered from last term.
What came back, almost unanimously, was the showcase.
That mattered to me. That showcase took weeks of preparation, a great deal of courage from every child who stood up, and no small amount of effort from families to be there. Hearing them name it unprompted as the thing they valued most told me everything about where this group's confidence has got to, and where it still has room to go.
Confidence built over a few months is a starting point, not a destination. These children know that. I could see it in the way they spoke about it, not as something they'd finished, but something they'd begun.
A warm welcome to our new members
Our new children introduced themselves and shared one thing they'd like to do.
They found their feet quickly, and the returning children made that easy for them. That, in itself, is evidence of the culture this group has built.
Teams for this term
After a few minutes of group discussion, which I'll admit was more spirited than I expected, each team chose their ribbon colour and their name.
This term's four teams are:
Team Yellow - The Sour Lemons
Team Green - The Famous Good Guys
Team Blue - Dolphins
Team Red - Cherry Gals
These children were given no guidance on naming. The results speak for themselves.
Notebooks
Each child chose and personalised their own notebook, which will travel with them through the term. Some added stickers, some added photos; they're already quite individual.
Please make sure your child brings their notebook to every session. It's where they'll keep their notes, collect their sticker awards, and build up a small record of the term.
Pop Talk
We closed the session with Pop Talk, impromptu questions answered live, in front of the group, with no preparation. Children volunteer to come forward, and in my experience, they usually all do.
From the next session onwards, the questions will be written by the children themselves. That transfer of ownership is deliberate. When children set the questions, they think more carefully, listen more actively, and hold each other to a higher standard than I ever could.
Introducing Young Founders House
Something personal, if you will bear with me for a moment.
I did not grow up knowing how money worked. Nobody sat me down and explained what a mortgage was, or why some people build wealth, and others do not, or how a business actually makes money. I learned all of that in my thirties. Sometimes through success. Mostly through getting it wrong.
And the older I get, the more I wonder how different things might have looked if someone had just shown me earlier.
I spent 17 years in corporate finance. I now run three businesses. And the one thing I keep coming back to, as a professional, as an entrepreneur, and honestly most of all as a mother, is that we are not giving our children the tools they actually need for the world they are actually going to live in.
Not because schools are failing. They are not. My daughter loves school, and I am grateful for every part of it. But public speaking, leadership, how to price something, how to create value, how to save and invest, how to back yourself, these things are not on the curriculum. And they matter. They matter enormously.
So I started teaching my own daughters. Quietly, at home, around the kitchen table. And somewhere along the way, it became something bigger.
Young Founders House is that something bigger.
Every Thursday at The Patch in Twickenham, children learn the things I wish someone had taught me at their age. Not in a classroom way. In a real, hands-on, let 's-actually-try-it way. How businesses work. How to spot an opportunity. How to make something and sell it. How to handle money with confidence. How to think for themselves.
And once a month, they put it all into practice.
The Young Founders Market. Our first one is Sunday, 7th June 2026, and every first Sunday of the month from there.
The children bring what they have made, a product, a service, a snack stall, a game, a craft, and they sell it. To real people. For real money. With real feedback that no classroom exercise can replicate. They learn what works. They learn what does not. They learn that trying something and failing at it a little is not the end; it is actually the beginning.
I am also building the market into something for the whole community. Face painting, a Dragon's Den corner, games, and causes the children care about, a different theme every month. A place where Twickenham comes together, and the kids are at the centre of it.
I genuinely believe this matters. Not as a business. As a thing worth doing.
If you think your child would love it, find out more at 👉 www.configuracademy.com or just reply to this email. I am always happy to have a conversation. Only for this group, members of Rise to Lead can join for £45 per month. 👉Join here.
Next Monday
We begin exploring topics for the end-of-term presentation to parents, and we start our first group challenges. Come ready.
Thank you, as always, for your trust and support throughout this term.
Warm regards,
Orgesa
Founder, Rise to Lead
Configur Academy
Wesbite: www.configuracademy.com
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