A Year 12 PSHE session was held this half term with a regular visitor to the school and a truly inspirational speaker, Keyur (‘Kiwi’) Patel. Since his visit to the school last academic year Kiwi comes to Beal with both a podcast and a book to his name through ‘The Loney Road – a Police officer’s Journey Through Cancer, Loss and Hope’.
Kiwi talked through the tough times he faced when he was initially diagnosed with cancer and when he also suffered a number of bereavements of close family and friends and the lessons he learned along the way to be able to be in the place he is in the present day.
Kiwi outlined the deep unhelpfulness of phrases such as ‘man up’, ‘sort yourself out’ and ‘pull yourself together’, phrases which only usually make an already difficult situation worse. Instead Kiwi outlined the importance of support from empathetic friends and colleagues, the value of counselling, the real benefits gained from seeking help and talking to people about the situation, and in Kiwi’s case the undoubted value of physical exercise.
The session was extremely well received and both began and ended with his advice of to ‘Try and leave the world a little better than you find it.’
‘I found today’s PSHE session very eye opening, definitely a sensitive subject to talk about and yet he was able to get through it and through that he was able to talk about his powerful and amazing journey in how he was able to overcome many difficulties thrown at him.’ KH
‘The PSHE session was one of the best sessions yet, extremely heart touching keeping me emotionally invested, Kiwi is an extremely passionate and great man.’ AS
Mr. Matheson – March 2026
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