Flying School - Inspiring Conversations

Aim

We need your help to create ‘activity packs’ that will help children and adults have inspirational conversations, and learn to fly.

Wouldn't it be amazing if your children grew up having the confidence you could only dream of?

Simply put, flying is...developing confidence. 

Flying is a feeling of greater confidence, freedom to be yourself, no longer feeling the need to compare yourself to others but feeling comfortable in your own skin. It often involves self-discovery, breaking the rules of convention and feeling able to do it your way. But we also think it’s all these things too.

We know that developing confidence helps us to flourish; to achieve our full potential; to build core emotional strength, it arms us with strategies to cope effectively and positively. So why wait, why not introduce these skills and strengths to children at an early age?

Who are we?

We are 3 friends who worked together almost 15 years ago in a corporate Communications and Development team. Since then Rachel has successfully owned her own leadership consultancy, (Thinkingstream Ltd) working as a coach and facilitator and developing leaders across the public and private sectors for the last 14years. Rachael has worked at a senior level in internal communications before setting up her own Toastie Business (Toast of Harrogate) a couple of years ago and Emma has been delivering major health programmes in the NHS.

Our team spirit and sense of fun was so compelling and successful all those years ago that we vowed to one day own a business together - Flying School has created that opportunity and it feels great to be working together again!

Why is Flying School a good idea?

We are a Yorkshire based company with years of experience in coaching and facilitation, with a strong brand, website, community and a single focus on seeing all children realise their full potential. We think there are missed opportunities for helping children learn to fly at home, in school, with friends and on their own. Our aim is to bring the latest research and thinking on developing confidence to a much wider audience including children. We want to share more ideas on creating flying environments and we are keen to be unconventional and fun, breaking down barriers, so that everyone can learn.

Through our research, we know that emotional well being and confidence in children is so important for them to navigate their way through childhood and early adulthood. We see that society already recognises the need for these strengths at a very early age through government funding; the new Ofsted Framework and from the wealth of books and articles that have been produced. 

We believe that we are unique in our offer of using coaching research and techniques to create games, resources, workshops and networks to create flying environments that can be easily accessed through our organisation.

It’s reported that children as young as 7 years old are increasingly placing limitations on themselves, misplaced assumptions they themselves, those around them, or society in general, has put on them, we want to make it our mission to reverse this trend!

Based on our research and experience, we have created a snapshot of what it takes to fly:

• Individuality – being able to think for ourselves, being aware of our passions and having more ownership over our choices with a sense of freedom to try out our own ideas
• A feeling of belonging – realising we can have an equal voice in conversations, our ideas matter and feel included and supported by others
• A sense of possibility – developing new expectations and curiosity over what we might be capable of, encouraging us to stretch beyond our comfort zone and imagine new opportunities.

What are we raising the money for? 

We have been working hard to develop our brand, to create a website and to test our ideas with children and adults. 

We are raising funds with NatWest Side Hustle: Back Her Business who have teamed up Crowdfunder.  Our first campaign is to raise £1,500 to bring to market our first product; an 'activity pack' that brings to life a combination of our four flying skills which can be played at home, in school, on your own or with friends. The money raised will help us pay for the design and testing phase to bring it to market.

Take a look at our product design below and imagine playing this over dinner, or on a long train or plane journey.

The Activity Pack 

Playing these games/quiz in this activity pack will help you to learn more about yourself, your friends and family, and will inspire and encourage you to create flying environments. 

These packs are light and portable and unfold to play on a table. They are designed not to be disposable but to take home and keep on using! We’ve developed a lovely feature on the back of the activity pack so you can put this up on your wall or your hallway, pick an inspirational word of the day and see how this affects your day and the impact on those around you! 

So, if we raise enough funds in our Crowdfunding campaign, we are going for a stretch target of £5,500. This will help us to put into production a range of Flying School products and gifts; 'My Flying Journal' and bookmark, inspirational postcards, tote bags and a range of personalised t-shirts. If we were to raise even more, the next major product is to start to produce a board game which is based on our four flying skills and our confidence equation.  It will help you to discover your strengths, your passion and how you can develop your confidence. This is a big financial investment, but we truly believe this game will be incredibly thought-provoking, interactive, and more importantly...it will be fun to play!

Why are flying resources are a good idea?

• Everything we do is aimed at adults and children – we believe in always producing the same materials for both which means that they are simple and easy to understand.
• Whether you are on your own, a group of adults or a mix of adults and children, we think you will enjoy the different flying adventures.
• The activities will be fun to do – you will start learning to fly and developing the four flying skills without realising it.
• The insights that come from playing the games are proven to last much longer than the activities itself.
• We hope to change people’s lives as they start to learn more about themselves and their friends and family, connect on a different level with each other, and learn how to help each other fly and how to inspire others

What is the Flying School philosophy?

Flying School exists to feed the soul of children, giving them permission to be themselves and the tools to inspire others.

So what does it take to learn to fly?

Our four flying skills create the framework for our Flying School concept. These skills underpin our approach and resources.

Imagine a world where every child had a ‘coach’ to help them fly… the more people that learn the flying skills, the more possible this is. Rooted in the latest thinking and research, our blogs, games and flying conversations are designed to develop these skills in children and adults. Learning to fly will be fun and will change lives forever.

We are a new startup with no budget, just our passion and determination to change our world for the better!

Can you help us?

Quotes and testimonials 

“It’s not rocket science to learn to fly, we just need to be shown how and we all need to become more responsible for helping others fly, whether we are a child or an adult.” 

Rachel Day Founder of Flying School

“Flying School is an imaginative and fun way of waking young people up to their own potential. This work is a vital tool in helping kids find a voice, their own voice, and to grow the confidence to be themselves in this baffling world of tests and scores and social media. It should be part of the school curriculum - so important that our young people leave school with a strong sense of their own mission in life.“ 

Clare Hughes, Creative Director, Thinc Design

How can you help us?

• Please subscribe and join our growing community at www.flyingschool.fun.
• Please spread the word with everyone you know – we need each other to help us fly.
• Please donate as much or little as you can – we need people like you to believe in us and encourage us to keep working the long hours!

This project successfully funded on 18th December 2019