Sixty-five senior QE boys have enrolled on a coaching programme run by alumnus Kam Taj.
Kam (Kamran Tajbaksh, OE 2004–2011), a performance coach, inspirational speaker and author, will help the pupils through an online course supported by more than 100 videos and activities.
After taking a first in the Manufacturing Engineering tripos at Churchill College, Cambridge, Kam secured a job as a management consultant with a global firm. However, he had begun doing performance coaching work while still at university, and in 2016 left the consultancy world to concentrate fully on coaching and motivational speaking.
Thanking Headmaster Neil Enright and Assistant Head Michael Feven (Pupil Development) for their support, Kam said: “QE is consistently named as one of the best schools in the UK, and I’m confident that this course will be an asset to the students’ academic and personal development, especially during these uncertain times.”
Kam is, in fact, a regular visitor to QE. In recent years, he has led a motivational skills workshop for Year 12 boys and helps pupils with their Oxbridge preparations.
Mr Enright said: “I am pleased that so many of our boys are taking advantage of Kam’s expertise by signing up for his Exam Success Academy online programme. Kam is both an Elizabethan and a very gifted performance coach, and although there are, of course, no public examinations this year, I am sure that the principles the boys will learn on the course will stand them in good stead for the future.”
The programme focuses on eight principles: time management; mindset management; study tools & techniques; on-the-day performance; academic & personal support groups; sleep optimisation; physical activity & movement, and nutrition & hydration.
Kam had been due to visit the School last month to talk to Year 12 on Student Life at Oxbridge (discussing topics ranging from choosing a college, the academic intensity of Oxbridge, student life beyond academic matters, and common traps that students fall into in their first year), but the visit had to be shelved because of the Covid-19 restrictions.
It would have followed three workshops held earlier in the Spring Term and run by Mr Feven, as well as Head of Year 12 Helen Davies and Head of English Robert Hyland (both Oxford graduates), that were focused on providing Year 12 boys with advice on applying to Oxbridge. The workshops take place each year, although Kam’s talk was to have been a new addition to this programme.