Enterprise

 

Pedmore teams up with Young Enterprise to help create an enterprising approach to education

Not only do we have our year 11’s completing their GCSE Business and Enterprise GCSE,  Pedmore have recently joined forces with Young Enterprise to promote business education and entrepreneurship even further. We have signed up to the Young Enterprise Company Programme , which offers Year 10 students the opportunity to run an small enterprise and take part in various trade fairs and a national competition throughout the year.

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Mr Lloyd, our Headteacher said,

We have been actively engaged with many exciting and successful Enterprise projects in all year groups over several years here at Pedmore. In the past, this has included offering a GCSE in Business and Enterprise to our students and also being awarded as a Peter Jones Enterprise School . This gave our Year 9 GCSE Business Enterprise students a great experience of delivering a challenging but successful Enterprise project  – Funky Festives, unique handmade festive wreaths and Christmas cards.  We are constantly looking to engage as many of our students in Enterprise activity to increase their employability skills and now see the Young Enterprise Company Programme as the ideal vehicle to help turn our aims into reality.  The programme means we have real support in helping our students set up a fully functioning small enterprise and being able to take part in a national competitions has created a real buzz in our school.

 

Young Enterprise is the UK’s leading enterprise and financial education charity reaching over 250,000 young people every year.  The Company Programme enables participants to experience what it’s like to set up and run a student company.  Running throughout one academic year, students make all the decisions about their enterprise, from deciding on the name and product to creating a business plan, managing the student company finances and selling to the public at trade fairs. Students are covered by Young Enterprise Public Liability Insurance. All this takes place with the support of a volunteer Business Adviser who brings a wealth of business knowledge and expertise. A range of resources are provided to help manage the company. Teams track their progress using self assessment tools and even compete against other schools in local, regional and national competitions.

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Mr Lloyd added,

We understand how important the skills are that are attained as a direct result of involvement in Enterprise.  This affects not just how better equipped our students are as Young Entrepreneurs of the future but there is strong evidence to show how the experience positively affects the students’ attitude and confidence to study and improves overall academic achievement all through the curriculum.  Many of our students who have been heavily involved in our Enterprise ventures have already made significant personal achievements; prior to their involvement these seemed out of reach to them.

 

Ruby Marshall-Garrington, ex head girl at Pedmore and now A level student at Halesowen College said:

I was a member of the first Enterprise student team at Pedmore.  We learnt so much from our experience in starting up a successful enterprise venture, a “pop up “ shop in Stourbridge town centre selling a unique clothing and accessory range. ​ Not only did I learn about producing unique hand dyed goods I also learnt all about team working, sales and marketing (myself and the business), retail, display and my communication skills were really improved.  It gave me the confidence that I could achieve anything if I believed in myself and this had a massive impact in my approach to my learning and future career planning and goals. It gave the confidence to apply for Head Girl, something I would never have considered before the project. I am so lucky to have had this kind of opportunity.