What we do

We're all about transforming lives through creating
exceptional coaches and NLP therapists

nick banner imagepeggy banner imagepaul banner imagecath banner imagerobert banner image

What We Do

We aim to offer the very best coaching courses and NLP & Hypnotherapy courses available.

And whilst we believe we have some of the very best and most upto date courses around, we also aim to remain affordable, easy to fit into your life and practical.

We train, supervise and support coaches to gain the very best skills in their field and to have the skills, knowledge, experience and confidence to then practise in th real world.

And whether that's creating your own independent, inspiring coaching or NLP practice or using your skills in the workplace, we are passionate about making sure you can do that effectively.

We focus our energy on a core range of cutting-edge coaching and NLP courses that you will not find anywhere else.  There are not cookie-cutter training programmes teaching the same old stuff in the same old way.  Each one is completely unique and developed from the experience of the course heads and school founder.

The Perssonal Transformation Coaching Programme has been created for people who want to coach full time or extensively within the workplace.  It takes an integrative approach to coaching drawing on the very latest developments in the field to train coaches who can work at a transformational level.

Our Person-Centred NLP & Hypnotherapy Practitioner certification has been designed for people who want to become NLP therapists or to add NLP and hypnotherapy to other therapeutic approaches.  This is not your typical NLP course but instead apporaches the skills with a view to helping you develop real skills to work at the deepest level with clients.

Dynamic Youth Coaching Programme has been devloped to train those who want to specialise in coaching young people on their full range of life issues, from education to employment, from family to finance, from relationship to recreation.  It's ideal for intergrating with other youth approaches to add a new dimension to education, social work or community work.

Rapid-Results Small Business Coaching Programme is a full business system which allows you to work with local small businesses on all apsects of their success from planningm marketing, growth and finances.  This is a complete business with everything you need to start a practice almost immediately.

Our passion is coaching and everything we do centres around adding value to the coaches we work with at all levels.  You can be sure you’re in the right place for coaches at the Smart School.

In their own words

Click here to see Smart School trained coaches describe their journey through the school and what it has done for them.

Read more button

Read more button

Read more button



How are coaching and NLP different?

People often ask about the difference between NLP and coaching and sometimes the boundaries are blurred. But they are different and below is a simple way of looking at the difference.

NLP is firmly rooted in interventions that work with the unconscious mind to change patterns of behaviour and thinking which are ineffective for the client or to reinforce and draw upon strengths to enhance results and performance.

Coaching on, the other hand, is far more conscious-minded, using a conversational style to bring about change by identifying goals, exploring challenges and opening up more options for empowered thinking and behaviour.

Both, however, address all aspects of the person including beliefs, values, needs, thoughts, emotions and behaviours.

 

Who joins the Smart School?

We have a wide variety of people who join the school from many backgrounds in business, central and local government and the caring professions.

Typically, they are enthusiastic about learning and want to help people in some way whether it's in the workplace or life in general. They are very much people-people and usually tell us that they have been the listening ear for people in their life. They are caring but also positive and believe in change.

Whether they want to use coaching in work or for their own business, Smart School students are determined to learn the skills they need to apply coaching in the real world. That means putting in the practice and taking advantage of the support on offer.

 

What’s a typical day on our training weekend?

A typical day is a mix of small group classroom training, breakout coaching sessions and time to ask questions or discuss ideas with the trainer.

Each day kicks off at 9.30am for morning coffee and tea and an initial catch-up and then we start at 10.00am for the training. We usually begin with a round-up of challenges from your real-life coaching sessions so we can explore the connections with the new materials through the weekend and then it’s straight into the new topics.

The days alternate between classroom learning and practical coaching in pairs or triads followed by discussion to clarify points of learning and practice. We usually finish around 5.30pm with many coaches having a final chat over a drink.