The Exam Winner Workshop with Peter Radford was an invaluable experience for Year 11 and Year 13 students at Heston Community School, where it gave them the tools, confidence, and mindset needed to approach exam season positively and productively. Through a dynamic mix of motivation, practical revision strategies, and stress management techniques, students learnt how to adopt a growth mindset that encourages resilience and aspiration.

The session’s focus on memory techniques and supercharged revision helped them understand how to make every study minute count, while the guidance on coping with stress and procrastination provided practical solutions to stay mentally strong and focused.

With their own workbook to guide them, students left the workshop not only knowing what to do and how to plan their revision effectively, but also understanding the bigger picture of why giving their best matters for their future.

This combination of inspiration and actionable strategies ensured that the workshop was both engaging and deeply beneficial in preparing students for success in their GCSEs and A-levels.

S Jassal [Acting Assistant Headteacher]

On the 18 November, Year 11 students had a workshop with Peter Raford. We were deeply encouraged and motivated by his inspiring words. With outstanding passion, he shared his techniques for success, which consisted of revision methods. These included visual imagery, creating timetables specifically formulated for you and summarising texts. Alongside this, the speaker had a strong emphasis on four-way revision – creating notes, re-reading these notes, recording yourself saying these notes and listening back to them.

Peter Radford gave us access to excellent techniques, allowing students to prepare for all future examinations. One of the other key foci of the speaker was the differences between a fixed and a positive mindset and how either one of these mindsets can have an impact on our learning. He encouraged students to reflect on their own mindsets and to create those positive changes to aid us in the future. By talking to us about famous individuals who struggled growing up [such as Mo Farah], we understood that with hard work and effectively engaging with learning, anyone can achieve the best possible outcomes. Overall, I found the workshop extremely useful and implementing these techniques would lead any student to success. Simran Kaur Punny [11B]

Although my exams are next year, it was really helpful to work with Peter on different revision strategies. It has been intense recently with our mock exams and UCAS pressures, so being able to speak in a smaller group about what we’re going through felt reassuring and supportive. I left the workshop feeling more motivated, better prepared, and even more determined to succeed. Harman Grewal [13F]