Are We Preparing Young People for What Comes Next?
Every teenager will eventually face moments where there is no teacher standing beside them and no mark scheme telling them exactly what to do.
- Their first interview.
- Their first major setback.
- Walking into a room where they know nobody.
- Speaking up when something matters.
- Making an important decision for themselves.
- Being rejected.
- Getting something wrong.
- Starting again.
The question is not simply, “Are we helping young people achieve good results?”
It is also: “Are we preparing them to handle what comes next?”
That is what the Bravory Build Your Brave Story School Talk is designed to help with.
Build Your Brave Story
Bravory founder Adrian Close is a Derbyshire-based leadership and management trainer who has spent decades helping adults and young people become more confident leaders and communicators.
But Adrian wasn't always confident.
As a teenager, fear of being ridiculed was so strong that reading aloud in front of classmates could feel terrifying.
Later in life, within the space of around two weeks, Adrian lost almost everything he associated with success — his job, income, company car, home and relationship.
What helped him rebuild wasn't pretending everything was fine. It was the confidence and resilience he had started developing with the help of a mentor.
Years later, Adrian would call on those same qualities while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest freestanding mountain in the world, battling altitude sickness before eventually reaching the summit.
Pole Pole — Slowly, Slowly
On Kilimanjaro, Adrian constantly heard the Swahili phrase “Pole Pole” — slowly, slowly.
Nobody climbs Kilimanjaro in one giant step. Confidence is the same. It is built through small brave actions, repeated over time.
Confidence can grow through moments such as:
- Speaking when you would normally stay quiet
- Trying something you might normally avoid
- Recovering after getting something wrong
- Starting a conversation
- Making a decision for yourself
- Asking for help
- Taking one more step
One brave action at a time.
Confidence Doesn't Mean Becoming the Loudest Person in the Room
Bravory isn't about turning quieter students into extroverts. It isn't about teaching young people to pretend they aren't nervous. And it certainly isn't about changing them into somebody else.
That would be a waste of who they already are.
Instead, Bravory helps students recognise that confidence looks different for everybody.
- For one student, bravery might mean delivering a presentation.
- For another, it might mean putting their hand up.
- For another, it could be walking into their first interview.
- For someone else, the brave step may simply be saying, “I don't understand. Can you help me?”
The goal is not to create the loudest young people. It is to help young people trust themselves enough to take the next step.
One Bravory Talk. Three Different Stages of Growing Up.
The central Bravory message remains the same, but the examples, language and challenges are adapted depending on the age and stage of the students.
Years 7–9 - Building My Brave Story
For younger secondary-school students beginning to discover who they are.
- Believing in yourself without constantly comparing yourself with others
- Making friends and handling social situations
- Having the courage to speak up
- Dealing with mistakes and embarrassment
- Trying something new even when you feel nervous
- Recognising the things you are already good at
- Understanding that confidence can be developed
Challenge: What is one brave thing I could do next?
Years 10–11 - Confidence When Life Starts Getting Bigger
GCSE years bring different pressures and bigger decisions.
- Confidence under pressure
- Fear of failure
- Worrying about what other people think
- Speaking to unfamiliar adults
- Making decisions
- Handling setbacks
- Interview and communication confidence
- Taking greater responsibility for your future
Challenge: What am I currently avoiding because I don't feel confident enough?
Sixth Form & College - Ready for Life
Qualifications may help young people open doors. But eventually they have to walk through them.
- Interview confidence
- Communicating professionally
- Making independent decisions
- Handling rejection
- Resilience when plans change
- Meeting unfamiliar people
- Asking questions and asking for help
- Speaking up for themselves
- Recognising the value they can bring to an employer, team or community
Challenge: Are you simply preparing to leave education — or preparing yourself for what comes next?
More Than a Motivational Talk
Students can leave an inspirational assembly feeling motivated. Then Monday arrives.
That is why Bravory is designed to go beyond inspiration.
The school talk can become the starting point for practical confidence development across the school.
Free Teen Confidence Test
At the end of the presentation, students can scan a QR code and complete the Bravory Teen Confidence Test.
The Bravory confidence test is designed to help teenagers and parents explore confidence across five important areas:
- Self-belief
- Communication
- Resilience
- Social confidence
- Independence and readiness for life
It helps students recognise where confidence may already be strong and where it may be getting held back.
The Bravory Teen Confidence Index
Schools can also use anonymous, aggregated scorecard results to create a broader picture of confidence across a year group.
For example:
| Confidence Area | Example Year Group Score |
|---|---|
| Self-belief | 68% |
| Resilience | 71% |
| Communication | 49% |
| Social Confidence | 57% |
| Independence | 63% |
Instead of simply asking: “Do our students need more confidence?”
Schools can begin asking: “Where do our students need the greatest help?”
The Bravory Teen Confidence Index can provide teachers with a practical starting point for future PSHE, pastoral, careers, transition and personal development activity.
The Brave Story Workbook
Students can continue the conversation after the presentation using the Brave Story Workbook.
Questions can include:
- Where am I now?
- Where does confidence already help me?
- What am I avoiding?
- What would I try if I worried less about getting it wrong?
- What is my next brave action?
- What could I achieve in the next 30 days?
The workbook helps turn the school talk from something students simply listen to into something they begin applying.
The 30-Day School Confidence Challenge
Confidence develops through evidence.
So Bravory encourages students to collect some.
Schools can choose to continue the experience with the 30-Day Bravory Confidence Challenge, supported through tutor groups, PSHE or personal-development sessions.
One small brave action every day.
Not enormous challenges. Not changing personalities. Just repeated opportunities for students to prove to themselves:
Teacher and Parent Insight Report
Where appropriate, participating schools can receive an anonymous Teen Confidence Insight Report showing the broad strengths and development areas emerging from the scorecard.
This could help inform conversations around:
- PSHE
- Personal development
- Transition
- Careers
- Student leadership
- Communication
- Resilience
- Independence
- Wellbeing and pastoral support
No individual student needs to be singled out. The aim is to help schools understand the bigger confidence picture.
Parent Evening Talk - Is My Teenager Ready for Life?
Sometimes teachers see one side of a teenager. Parents see another. And teenagers themselves may feel something completely different.
Schools can also invite Adrian to deliver a companion presentation for parents and guardians:
Is My Teenager Ready for Life?
The session can explore questions such as:
- Why won't they speak up?
- Why do they worry so much about what other people think?
- How can I encourage independence without constantly pushing them?
- What should I say when they fail at something?
- How can I build their confidence without simply telling them to “be confident”?
- Will they be able to cope when I'm not there to solve the problem for them?
The parent session gives families practical ways to continue the confidence conversation at home.
Want to Take It Further?
For schools wanting more than the introductory talk, Bravory can provide additional confidence development for:
- Students struggling with confidence
- Prefects and student leaders
- Sixth-form students
- Young people preparing for employment or apprenticeships
- Transition groups
- Students preparing for interviews
- Young people who would benefit from additional confidence and resilience development
This can include access to the wider Bravory 6-Week Confidence Building Programme and 30-Day Challenge.
About Adrian Close
Adrian Close is Director of Learning at Ultimate Leadership Training and founder of Bravory.
For around ten years Adrian volunteered through a local school as a Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition supervisor, supporting teenagers through challenge, teamwork, uncertainty and situations outside their comfort zones.
He also delivers leadership training for school prefects across the UK.
One development goal appears again and again when young people are asked what they most want to improve:
Confidence.
Adrian's own journey - from a teenager frightened of ridicule, through losing almost everything he associated with success, to becoming a trainer, business owner and eventually standing on the summit of Kilimanjaro - provides the backdrop to the talk.
But the talk isn't really about Adrian's Brave Story. It is designed to help every student start thinking about their own.
Bring Bravory to Your School
The Build Your Brave Story presentation is available as a free or low-cost introductory school assembly or presentation, subject to location and requirements.
It can be delivered for:
Years 7–9
Years 10–11
Sixth Form and College students
It can also be expanded to include the Teen Confidence Test, Brave Story Workbook, Bravory Teen Confidence Index, 30-Day Confidence Challenge and parent evening presentation.
If you are a teacher, school leader, careers leader, PSHE lead, pastoral lead — or a parent who believes your child's school could benefit — get in touch.
Book a Bravory School Talk Tell My Child's School About BravoryHelp your students start building their own Brave Story.
Pole Pole. One brave step at a time.
