Year 11 students from Woodham Academy were very fortunate to have a motivational session with inspirational speaker Andy Reid during the recent specialist day. Andy is a triple amputee having lost his right leg below the knee, the left leg above the knee and his full right arm. Andy was the victim of an IED whilst on patrol in Afghanistan in 2009, and since then he has gone on to use a variety of prostheses for walking, running and cycling. He has participated in a variety of challenges and in doing so has raised vast sums of money for various army charities. These have included motor-trike riding from Lands-end to John O’Groats, a tandem skydive and an abseil down ‘The Big One’ at Blackpool. He is now a motivational speaker and author of the book “Standing Tall”, which was released in February 2013.
The focus of the talk was to inspire students to believe in themselves and encourage them to raise their game, especially at this time coming up to their GCSE examinations. Andy certainly delivered a strong message that if you want to achieve something you need to be dedicated, motivated and when working towards a goal it is important to break it down into small manageable tasks.
Woodham Academy Deputy Headteacher, Jonathan Lumb, says, “As the hectic examination period approaches we wish all of our students sitting external examinations all the best. It is important we all continue to support them so that they are suitably equipped to give themselves the best preparation possible.”
