“I just wanted to thank you so very much for the talk you gave the Junior School parents last night. I have had so much lovely feedback today from parents and I even found one of the staff making a golden book for her class! She is planning to get the girls to jot down the descriptive praise comments they receive during the week and then she is going to read the comments out during golden time each week! The whole idea sits so well with our marble jars and learning habits. Lots of parents said they were going to find ways to change the way they do things and they were so positive about trying out the ideas. I am also particularly grateful to you for making the talk so light hearted and giving everyone the freedom to acknowledge that we’re not all living in perfect homes, doing perfect parenting and it’s ok not to be able to manage it all perfectly!”

— Jo Newman, Head Junior School, North London Collegiate School

“Elaine is a warm and engaging speaker whose presentations deliver what they promise – for people to walk away with practical, positive ideas aimed at improving family relationships. And from a school point of view, she reinforces what any pro-active, wellbeing-focused school is doing by demonstrating the power of positive praise and the building of self-esteem. What a great presentation – we’ll be having you back again soon!”

— David Williams, Deputy Head Pupil Development & Wellbeing, Surbiton High School

“Thank you, Elaine for a truly inspirational training session which reminded us of how descriptive praise can change a students’ learning behaviour and raise their self-esteem which at Holy Cross we feel is incredibly important for the child’s well-being. After the training, staff unanimously agreed to develop elements of their interactions with the pupils and felt skills learnt were realistic to implement. We look forward to welcoming you back to our school again for more informative talks not only for our staff but for our parents too.”

— Sarah Hair, Headmistress, Holy Cross Prep school, Kingston, Surrey

“Please accept my heartfelt thanks for conducting our parent practice workshops this past week. You were extremely energetic, flexible and very easy to work with. The feedback from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, and your workshops truly helped our community bond. Both parents and teachers were able to open up about some of the challenges they experience either at home or in the class. I think people no longer feel so alone.”

— Stacey Bobo, Principal, Lyford Cay International School, Bahamas