On Friday 12th December 2008 Samworth Church Academy held its first Christmas Fair upholding a tradition established previously. What was unique this time was a small group of Sixth Form students organised and ran the event as part of their studies. They were given very real responsibility for organising and promoting the Fair. This project involved the whole school and every student had an opportunity to contribute but for those Sixth Formers involved they got very real experience of what is required to manage this event.
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One of the Sixth Formers involved, Joshua Dumble, said 'I've never been asked to do something as big as this before. I felt really nervous about it but at the same time really enjoyed the responsibility. We worked hard with the staff and I learnt a lot about business and enterprise.'
The Fair attracted just over 400 visitors and they had plenty of choice as what to do with 34 stalls offering a wide variety of arts, crafts, food and drink, all with a festive theme. Many stalls carried games and other entertainments. Those attending included local dignitaries. Students developed many enterprising skills and it was particularly pleasing to note the contribution of Year 7 students who follow a competency based curriculum.
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Preparations had been going on for weeks with students generating ideas for stalls, creating products or services to sell. Stalls were manned by students who did an excellent job in demonstrating good selling and customer service skills.
The Fair as a whole made £625 profit which also provided evidence that our students were cash aware.
A group of students drawn mainly from Year 10, with a few also coming from Year 11, are currently running a small business that will design and retail products using their skills developed in Art and Media courses here at Samworth Church Academy.
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They, being ably supported by two business professionals John Kay, the Creative Director from Linneys Group Limited and Louise Brimble, a Marketing Professional of Knight Associates, have come up with designs and product ideas concentrating on cards and vinyls at the moment. In time the product range will expand to include the production of an Academy Calendar featuring the work of students produced here.
Using the umbrella of the Young Enterprise structure, students have adopted a business role and will be required to run their business in accordance with established legal practice.
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On Thursday 13th November 2008 over 100 Year 10 students took part in an event organised by local company 'No Limits Education Limited'. Students were divided into ten competing teams and were asked to develop a plan to raise funds for a local charity of their choice.
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The end of this day saw each team present a business plan to a panel of people working in industry drawn from around Mansfield. The standard was very high with our top two teams representing the Academy at a regional competition.
The plans and presentations displayed imagination, innovation, teamwork and organisation. Problems facing the charity of their choice were identified and creative solutions given. Our panel were impressed, as were the organisers.
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Beverley Burton, owner of No Limits Education, said 'We are delighted to be working with Samworth Church Academy on the Enterprise Academy Project; the Enterprise Challenge in school this week has clearly shown the students' enthusiasm for this type of activity and they've shown great initiative. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Academy'.
The top two teams competed against eight other schools from Ashfield, Bolsover and Mansfield on Monday 16th November 2008 at the Business Centre just off Junction 28 of the M1. A real business setting inspired the teams to further develop their ideas. Good performances were duly noted and one of our students, Stephanie Sanderson, was awarded the title of 'Most Enterprising Student in Mansfield'. Her leadership was commended by the judges. Teams had access to real life business mentors and facilities so everyone attending experienced a real professional environment.
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ECO-FRIENDLY students from the Samworth Church Academy have cleaned up their act and helped the Academy to become a greener environment.
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Students at the Academy have been holding assemblies to promote recycling and Samworth has tripled its collection of recycling waste since January 2009.
Mr Jackson, Samworth Church Academy's Site Manager said "When the Academy first opened last year we had three recyling bins and it was obvious that these were not enough for the amount of materials that could be recycled on site". "The recent recyling initiative at the Academy has further increased the amount of materials we are recyling and so we have brought additional recyling bins onto site, now numbering nine, whilst removing some of the traditional trade waste bins."
The enthusiasm of students has been instrumental in the success of this project and a wide variety of waste is now recyled. This includes ink cartridges, cans, cardboard and paper.
The recyling of ink cartridges has been organised by a small group of students to raise funds for charity.
On Wednesday 22nd April 2009 over 100 Year 9 students took part in an enterprise event organised by Giant Impact which aimed to develop their enterprise skills and provide them with a fun introduction to business.
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Gerry and Pasky from Giant Impact delivered an imaginative and professional programme of activities designed to introduce students to the world of work and why it is important for them to be enterprising. Students were given a brief introduction to the work, the economy, business, profit, risk and reward, tax and the key qualities demanded by employers. They were then divided into competing teams and took part in several activities to emphasise the importance of communication and the different types of communication.
In these competing groups students were asked
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to design and create a pair of 'Deadly Nightshades' (glasses) to be worn on a spooky ride at Warwick Castle. This involved them learning through trading and using the resources available to make the maximum profit. They had to take into account the requirements of their customer, Warwick Castle but they also had to be mindful of the external business environment as sudden changes had an effect on their costs. In the afternoon session students were introduced to recruitment and interviewing and were involved in the selection of candidates for a position. Several students commented that they found this very useful as it gave them an insight into how to make the most of themselves in a job application or interview.
The final activitity involved students designing and producing a gobstopper machine as well as producing branding to go with their machine. This encouraged them to work as a team and to be creative in problem solving. The designs and models produced displayed imagination, innovation, teamwork and organisation. All teachers involved were impressed with the skills shown by students, as were the organisers.
The winning team was the one whose gobstopper took the longest to travel through their machine but there were also prizes for the best logo, most creative design and best teamwork. Throughout the day, teams and individuals were also given prizes for winning challenges, working well as a group or for making an effort to get involved.
Comments from the organisers were very positive about the behaviour and attitudes of all students involved in the day and Giant Impact are keen to work with the Academy again on future enterprise events.
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On Tuesday 30th June 2009 over 100 Year 9 students took part in the Stock Market Challenge. In teams of 4 students competed to make the most profit on a fictional stock market. This interactive learning resource used the experience of trading to create a competitive and rewarding team activity. Current share prices were projected onto a big screen with a constant news feed as well as news flashes and radio announcements at intervals throughout the day. A trading bell and market background noise completed the setting.
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A team of gifted and talented Year 10 students were employed throughout the day as the sellers in the 'trading pit'. These students showed great business skills and used their own initiative to come up with systems and processes to speed up buying and selling. They also impressed with their quick calculations of prices and their leadership skills in controlling the Year 9 students visiting the trading pit.
The participating Year 9 students were challenged to buy and sell shares in 9 companies
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as well as investing in the dollar in order to maximise their portfolios. The challenge aimed to assist the development of students' enterprise skills, financial capability and work-related learning as well as bring the excitement of live trading into the Academy. Each member of every team had their own job role; the Media Analyst had to watch news bulletins and read the daily newspaper to identify how their companies could be affected, the Investment Analyst had to keep track of the team's portfolio, the Finance Analyst had to keep track of incoming and outgoing cash and finally, the Floor Trader had to go to and from the trading pit, buying and selling their shares. Students embraced these job roles and the teamwork and leadership showed by a number of students was very impressive.
The students involved got very excited and the atmosphere throughout the day was buzzing. Students competed on a group level but with the added element that groups were school based so they were competing for their school. Feedback from students included:
'It was really fun; we should definitely do it again.'
'A good experience and quite realistic.'
'I learnt how to work in a team; it was different and interesting.'
'It was very exciting and fun and it inspired some people to be stockbrokers.'
The winning team was the one who made the most profit. Every student in this team was given a sum of money to invest in the real stock market with help from the teachers running the event. There were several other prizes including scientific calculators, chocolates and even an engraved spoon for the biggest loss! All prizes were awarded to students by the Principal in a ceremony at the end of the event.
On 11th June 2009 eight Year 9 students were chosen to participate in an Enterprise Challenge afternoon.
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The students developed ideas for a new product to market and present against other schools in the Mansfield area in the next stage of the Enterprise Challenge will be held at Manor School on the 13th July 2009.
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Samworth's enterprising students rise to the challenge.
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As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week; On Monday 16th November 2009 60 Year 10 students took part in the Make Your Mark Challenge. In teams of 4-6, students competed to come up with the most enterprising idea based on a secret brief.
The Make Your Mark Challenge is the UK's largest enterprise challenge for secondary schools and colleges. This year the Challenge involved over 70,000 students across the country. The competition aims to improve the enterprise capabilities of participating students including risk-taking, creativity, financial planning and communication.
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Our Year 10 groups competed head-to head with thousands of other secondary schools and colleges across the country when they were challenged to come up with unique and inspiring ideas in response to a secret brief launched early on Monday morning.
This year, the Challenge brief was to come up with an innovative business idea that included detailed descriptions of their business idea, an investigation into their competitors and financial forecasts. They had a 2 minute slot in which to pitch their idea to a panel of judges; Mr Roberts (The Academy Finance Director who has a background in Business and Management), Daniel Vasper (Academy Head Boy) and Gillian Durham (Academy Head Boy).
The winning idea, designed by Bonnei Newbold, Jessie Newbold, George Benstead, Eleni Yerolemou and Lauren Gregory, was 'The Tree Huggers Eco-Friendly Corporation', a range of decorative products made from recycled materials sourced in the local area.
As well as proving that they're among the most enterprising young minds in the country, our students were competing for the chance to win at a regional level and for the national prize of up to £1,000 to help the winning team to make their ideas a reality.
Global Entrepreneurship Week (16th - 22nd November 2009) is a worldwide movement of entrepreneural people and this year will highlight the crucial role that entrepreneurs and their ideas will play in driving economic recovery in the UK and globally. More than 80 countries across the globe signed up to take part.
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Global Entrepreneurship Week (16th - 22nd November 2009) is a worldwide movement of entrepreneurial people and this year will highlight the crucial role that entrepreneurs and their ideas will play in driving economic recovery in the UK and globally. More than 80 countries across the globe signed up to take part.
"A thriving, can-do enterprise culture is part of what makes Britain a great place to do business. Global Entrepreneurship Week is important because it inspires a whole new generation of budding entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into reality." Lord Sugar, entrepreneur, star of BBC1's The Apprentice and Government Enterprise Champion.
Last year, there were over 24,000 events and activities run in 77 countries, attended by more than 3 million people (644,000 of which were in the UK!). This year The Samworth Church Academy will be included in these figures.
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During Global Entrepreneurship Week every student at The Samworth Church Academy was given an 'Enterprise Diary' to assess their own enterprise skills and to keep track of the enterprise activities taking place in their lessons.
Below are some examples of just a few of the activities taking place in different subjects throughout the Academy:
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