Junior School Pupils Amaze with Enterprise Project, Impressing Successful Entrepreneurs
As part of the exciting new Enterprise topic taking place in Junior School, ably run by Year 3 and 4 teacher Mrs Charlotte Smith, Key Stage 2 presented their own Enterprise pitches to our very own Dragon’s Den panel of judges.
Pupils shared their festive product designs using a range of persuasive tactics to encourage an investment from the panel and amazed them with their projected costs and anticipated profits.
Judges Miss Capper, Mr Jeff and Mr Wallace were blown away with the vast range of transferable life skills being demonstrated by all pupils.
Pupils are excited to welcome parents to their Enterprise Fayre on Monday 9 December, following straight on from the EYFS and KS1 Christmas Production, a cash only event raising money for charity.
Mrs Charlotte Smith, said: “Pupils have impressed us with their great ideas and detailed plans of how to make their vision a reality. Families have fed back that pupils have discussed their plans at home and seem really invested in entrepreneurship at such an early age. I’m very proud of them all.”
Esteemed visitors have been popping in regularly over the last few weeks to offer advice and practical tips on how to finesse our mini entrepreneurs’ skills.
Morvern Mills, India’s mother, who works in Branding for Nestle, gave a fascinating masterclass in Marketing. After her interactive talk and workshop, they are armed with top tips for advertising own their Enterprise Fayre products.
“I was so impressed by the questions asked by pupils. It was clear they were engaged and committed to making sure their products would be successful in the market, and had made promising first steps towards targeted market research.”
Ghassan Khan, Latifah’s father, talked about the whole entrepreneurial timeline from ideas stage to taking to market. He said business meetings can be tough but our Junior School pupils really made him think on his feet and outside of the box, with their well-thought out and probing questions.
Ghassan said: “Mount pupils are gaining valuable life skills, whether or not they set up their own businesses, useful as member of society, customer or employee. The fundamentals about how a business operates will always prove useful.”
Will Hogge – inventor of square sausage Squig (sold in supermarkets) and his current project The Inhaler Tailor – came in and shared his experiences of being a contestant on Dragon’s Den. He talked through how he gets his entrepreneurial ideas and the lengthy list of steps of getting a product to market. His keen insight is invaluable as he was able to talk from experience on what shortcuts can be taken e.g. don’t spend a lot of time and money on initial prototypes and which areas need careful attention e.g. social media campaigns.
Will’s Inhaler Tailor product takes boring plastic inhalers (essential for those with asthma) and transforms them into funky accessories in bright patterns with a handy strap. Will was inspired by his goddaughter who was reluctant to take her inhaler around with her so he took a practical problem and invented a solution, now popular with celebrities, and given out from some hospitals to encourage younger children to make sure they keep their inhaler with them at all times.
Will said: “In all my years in education I was never taught about entrepreneurship and relevant skills around finance. The Mount’s decision to introduce these themes at such a young age may well be impactful for future inventions and products!”
Bravo Junior School for grilling our visitors and adding more skills to your portfolios (without any a shoulder pads or briefcase in sight!).
Your teachers are beyond proud of all you’ve achieved and look forward to welcoming parents to their Enterprise Fayre on Monday 9 December.
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