Testimonials

Wiltshire Headteacher Conference June 2009

Dear Neil,

Thank you so much for your presentation at the Wiltshire Heads conference this week. Your contribution was very well received and I have had nothing but very positive feedback from all the Heads I have spoken to and they are very good at letting me know when they are not happy.

You were able to allow the audience to re-connect with the reasons that they became head-teachers in ways that enabled them to make a difference. The fact that you have been in the most challenging circumstances and achieved success gave credibility so that everyone was able to give credence and value to what you were saying. This is exactly what was needed and I am very grateful to you for your encouragement, support and professionalism.

Best wishes

David

David Ross
Head of School Support - Wiltshire LA

The visit by Neil Hawkes was both a confirmation and a revelation.

He confirmed that our adoption of Values Education, now deeply embedded in our curriculum and school ethos, was the enhancement of the prevailing environment within school, in which both academic and social skills would continue to flourish.

The revelation was the extent to which Values Education could be introduced, almost imperceptivity, into the daily activities of the school from Assembly to Staff Meetings, Music to Physical Education.

Neil Hawkes, in a modest, almost self-effacing way, imposed upon his audience - single or group - a desire to embrace the philosophy and values he was expounding. Each child returned from conversing with him filled with the pleasure of having found a new friend. Each group recognised the vital importance of his views on all the inter-locking activities that comprise school life

All his listeners from the Headteacher to the Cleaner, Pupil to Governor, derived great benefit from his visit.

Mr Raymond Barker
Chairman of Governors
Stoke Prior School, Herefordshire

PRIMARY & SPECIAL DEPUTY HEADTEACHERS CONFERENCE 2008

• Very thought provoking - made me really think about our school/values etc
• Fabulous. Neil really enabled us to consider our role and the real impact of a value based school in the lives of staff, children and wider community.
• Truly inspirational - personally, professionally as a teacher and as a deputy. Will go away and read more and consider how to change practice.
• Wow! A wonderful speaker - his ideas underpin my philosophy of education, children and relationships at the heart of education.
• An enjoyable, rewarding session. All about being 'a decent human being' made me rethink and go back to where I started all those years ago.
• Thought provoking. Made me think about what is really important in a school.
• Very illustrative overview of values that is wide reaching for all pupils. Will definitely be taking lots of the simple answers back to school

Dear Neil, Thank you so much for your work with us on Monday. My goodness me, the staff were buzzing in school yesterday. Staff voiced their enjoyment of the day with 'it was fabulous', ' wonderful', ' inspiring', ' made me really think'..... so, your impact has been great.

It was good to work with you & I hope that we will be able to get you moreinvolved in some Birmingham work. I'll talk to Jackie Hughes & see if we can progress the idea with the heads conference. Many thanks again for being so inspirational.

Pam Matty
Grove School

Thanks Neil, I've since had time to read (twice) your chapter on Values Education. I'm not yet going to say it's inspirational, as I've learned from getting to know you better, that that's not how you want to be characterised. Neil.... the chapter is inspirational ....... as we say down here you are a legend!

Professor Ron Toomey
Australia

I find that chap Neil Hawkes quite inspiring.....I need a dvd of him to watch every 6 months or so........and share with some very needy patients.....or maybe just time to reflect!!!! Iam thrilled for you and all the staff that he thought so highly about what was happening at LPS.....although actually I already knew what is happening there is very special...it was though such a positive appraisal about all the staff...which is lovely.

Dr.Debs
Chair of Governors - Ledbury Primary School

A Commendation from a Teacher

Dear Dr Hawkes

I have spent today (5th January 2009) listening to you speak at Heckington School, Lincolnshire (second row, terrible body language - crossed legs, folded arms!!!!!!). I may have appeared to have been paying little attention, but please believe me when I say how inspired I was by your words. I am going into work tomorrow and starting the new term in the most positive frame of mind I have been in for a long time. Recently I have doubted my commitment to education and have been asking myself 'why.........?' but after hearing you speak I feel inspired to change my way of working and regain the enthusiasm I have lost.

Many, many thanks
Tracy Phillips

Welsh Medium Headteacher Conference on 28 April 2009

Hi Neil,

The evaluation forms were a delight to read and without exception praised your inspirational address and method of delivery. Many of the headteachers have contacted me personally to express their delight and asked me to pass on their gratitude. I'm certain many will contact you in the near future to arrange further Cluster based training.

With Thanks!

Duan Evans
Ymgynghorydd Cynradd / Primary Adviser