170 students at The Joyce Frankland Academy benefitted from an Employability Workshop and Enterprise Day, delivered by Form the Future and funded by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Region of Learning, on Thursday 6 July 2023.
The day began with a recently refreshed Employability workshop that helps students to identify their skills, covers CV writing, interview skills, job searching, self-employment/entrepreneurship and preparing for work.
One student said,
“It helped me recognise my skills and abilities, and I learnt how to write a CV”.
After the workshop, we moved onto the Enterprise Day where students became entrepreneurs – creating, developing and pitching their innovative business ideas. The aim was to give each student experience of the skills and behaviours necessary to be successful in business and work. For those who want to become an entrepreneur, the exercise helped them to understand their own strengths and areas for development.
Sam Squire from Inspire 2 Ignite joined Form the Future’s team members to deliver the session. The Inspire 2 Ignite team are a fantastic supporter of our Enterprise Day events, and it was great to see students once again learning and engaging with entrepreneurship.
Sam Squire, Lead Ignition Coach, Inspire 2 Ignite CIC, told us,
“Enterprise Days like this empower students to think innovatively, solve real-world problems, and develop essential characteristics for the future. Well done to all the young people for coming up with their remarkable ideas and thank you to the Form the Future team for organising yet another successful Enterprise Day. These events continue to inspire and shape the next generation of entrepreneurs and change-makers.”
The students developed brilliant ideas during the session, including:
5 Week Physio – An app that matches young people with sports injuries to available physiotherapists and mental health support. This would increase the speed of recovery and get young people back to full health as quickly as possible.
Steals on Wheels – A second-hand clothing bus service that gives greater opportunities for people to sell old clothes rather than sending them to a landfill.
Housing for Life – A low-budget housing scheme dedicated to providing sustainable and affordable housing for students, single parents, and the elderly.
Clean Catch – A giant robotic whale collecting rubbish and plastic from oceans worldwide. The collected plastic would then be repurposed into jewellery that would be sold to sustain the growth of the business and allow the purchase of more whales.
Our staff members chose the winning team on the day, and after much deliberation, Clean Catch was awarded the victory. Each student in the team was given a certificate and a copy of ‘Cumulative Advantage – How to build momentum for your ideas, business and life against all odds’.
The Region of Learning, who funded this activity, supports and assists young people to connect to local learning, wellbeing and career motivated opportunities, and build upon their own confidence, skill development and aspirations for future life goals.
After the event, Kathryn Fladgate, Senior Programme Manager, Form the Future, said,
“The first Region of Learning Enterprise Day was a huge success at JFA (Joyce Franklin Academy). The students were creative, engaging and demonstrated great teamwork – hopefully some budding entrepreneurs to watch out for in the future”
