2009 has been a very successful year with a lot of initiatives being carried out across the curriculum and year groups. It has allowed Maiden Erlegh to really embed Enterprise Education across the school and provides an excellent platform for moving the Specialism forwards even further.
Since April 2009 we have seen a number of enterprise activities take place across all Key Stages. At Key Stage 3 we have seen the whole of Year 9 take part in a Murder Mystery Day which happened in July 2009. This gave our students the opportunity to use enterprising skills such as team work and risk taking across a variety of curriculum areas including Geography, ICT, Art and Drama.
Also in the Summer Term, Year 10 students who were not involved in Sports Day (approx 200) took part in the Natwest Enterprise Event which required students to work in teams to design a school prom. This involved them having to change their ideas when chance cards were introduced and also deal with costings to ensure that they won the bid.
A team of four Gifted and Talented Year 12 students took part in the Kaplan Business Board Game which had them competing against schools such as Reading Boys, Kendrick and Forest. During the whole day event the students had to design a corporate strategy and deal with accounts and finance of a firm whilst still trying to cut deals and negotiate with rival firms and customers. The day was an excellent experience for the students and they performed remarkably well finishing second.
The Autumn term has also seen some excellent events taking place. The current Year 10 cohort that have opted for Business Studies took part in the Make Your Mark National Challenge. This event is a different kind of event mainly because the brief for staff and students is not launched until the morning of the event. This year they had to think of a local product that would be successful but has low carbon credentials. There were some excellent ideas and our business mentors Phil Newborough, Nick Jones and Jerome Sanne guided the students through all tasks including finance and marketing. The eventual winning team created a company which cleaned landfill sites and sold them to property developers. Please click here for more information
The G&T students in Year 10 have been busy working on a Business and Enterprise Project inspired by the London 2012 Olympic Games. They have been set a task to see why London was selected and this has included trips to the village, a Grand Opening and a Closing Ceremony due to be held in February. For this project we successfully gained a £5000 budget from the SSAT. Please click here for more information
One Water has came in and would like to form a partnership with our school and indeed we have had Year 11 BTEC Students and the whole of the current Year 9 taking part in One Big Idea which is a national competition in which students have to think of a product that is sellable in the UK but has a link to helping people in Malawi. The winning team came from Year 11 for their idea of One Mosweeto which are jellied sweets in the shape of bugs and the profit will go to providing malaria nets.
The school is now part of an Enterprise Learning Partnership that includes B&E colleges from across Berkshire and also primary, specialist and further education institutions. This allows Maiden Erlegh to assist in the delivery of Enterprise Education in the community. This was evident in the Murder Mystery Roadshow delivered by our students to Alfred Sutton and Caversham Primary Schools. In the summer holidays Maiden Erlegh offered a Business Summer School to all schools in the area. Unfortunately this was only taken up by our students (22) we are hoping for a better response next time.
2010 still has a lot of enterprising activities to take place. The Year 8 tutor programme has a four week session of enterprise in which students will not only get a feel of what Business Studies is but also allows them to understand what enterprise is and what skills an entrepreneur has.
We are also launching a Dragons Den competition for Year 8 which involves the students coming up with a business idea, preparing a pitch and presenting to the dragons for £50 start up money.
The future two terms will be exciting and full of enrichment for students and will be one that ensures Maiden Erlegh delivers an enterprising experience to all students.
Mr P Gibson
Head of Faculty for Business, Vocational and Enterprise
January 2010
