I got up at 5am to get here in time!”



Peter realised he didn’t have enough money on his Oyster to use the train to travel into London, so he planned his journey, got up extra early to arrive as close as possible to the start time of Growing Talent‘s Orientation week.

#respect

So a boiling hot Monday. A difficult journey and then faced with three manuals and an i-act (for positive mental health and wellbeing) training. Mental Health Training training pack! This is a lot for anyone, let alone a neurodivergent superstar.

#respect

Grace had an equally trying time having to juggle getting the children to school and then into Central London. Did she want any ‘special treatment’? hell no. She set her mind on doing Growing Talent following her husband’s experience on the last programme, no matter what.

#respect

So a morning of learning, discussing, sharing thoughts, views and opinions on effective communication, unconscious bias, what is neurodivergence, managing conflict, how to move on – internally and externally, we arrived at some case studies. Real life experiences of problems previous Growing Talent participants had experienced. What would Grace and Peter have done? the conversation flowed.

That’s the beauty of working together leading with respect, inclusion and without pre-judgement.

For the rest of the week, we move to training our minds – the holistic element of Growing Talent

Both Peter and Grace are joining CIS Security Limited Their ability to connect with people, observe the cues humans give and think calmly coupled with the intense security training and guidance CIS Security Limited will give them, they have a world full of opportunities about to open for them.

A big thank you to those behind the scene supporting Grace and Peter including

Adam Bushell
Adrienne Simpson & the room bookings team Portico
@DavidSteeds, Rob Matthews (Anna) and the Job Centre Plus teams
Matthew Izekor and the team at Southwark Care Leavers
Gina and the team CIS Security Limited

Chef Omari

Flicking through the papers this weekend, I came across this fabulous story within the cooking section.

In my view, it should be front page news – uplifting, encouraging children they are never too young to achieve and oozes the thought they do not need to be held back by any ‘labels’!

Omari wants to be the ‘next Gordon Ramsey without the meat or swearing’.

Home schooled because his teachers brandied Omari an ‘underachiever’ who could not do his SATS because he has Dyslexia, Omari’s interest in vegan cooking took off. He has a cook book due for release in January 2021, his own TV show ‘What’s Cooking Omari’ and his own brand of dips.

What an achiever! I hope the teachers who told Omari he was an ‘under achiever’ will realise their mistake and start seeing the individual talent within every child – which will not always be academic but just as valuable if not more so.

Check out What’s Cooking Omari – CBBC 9.30am on Sundays and BBC iPlayer.