We were delighted to run an Enterprise Day with more than 60 students from St Mary’s Junior School last week, who invented a diverse range of exciting business ideas that included robotic housekeepers, Tupperware that can cook your food on-the-go, smart water bottles to track your hydration levels and a pet hotel and restaurant!
The groups of Year 5 and 6 students were challenged to develop innovative, new ideas for a business by Form the Future and our inspiring team of volunteers. The pupils were asked to consider target audience, brand, competitors and cost as part of the fun, hands-on activity day.
The aim of the Enterprise Day is to provide young people in the local community with an insight into entrepreneurship and the different job roles across a business; as well as enabling them to develop and enhance their creativity, teamwork, presentation and leadership skills.
The volunteers were from a vast range of organisations including Cambridge University Press, Kameo Recruitment, Tribus-D and Burwell Museums. Through the volunteers’ excellent guidance and mentorship, all teams were able to create outstanding pitches for their product or service, which they presented to our panel of judges, their peers and their teachers.
Sharon Livermore, Director at Kameo Recruitment said:
“It was a pleasure to volunteer with Form the Future, at St Mary’s School Enterprise Day. The event was extremely well organised, and the students all had a fantastic time. It was great to see how well they worked within their teams and then to hear the fantastic ideas that they came up with. It is so important for both businesses and individuals to volunteer their time, as these events have such a huge impact on the younger generation and teach them valuable life skills, which they may otherwise miss out on.”
The Best Overall Pitch prize was awarded to Happy Vibes Clothing, who envisaged designing stylish clothing emblazoned with positive and inspiring slogans. The team behind Smarthair won Most Innovative Idea for their personalised, 3-D printed headbands that multi-task as both a fashion accessory and a high-tech communications device.
Matthew O’Reilly, Head of Juniors at St Mary’s Junior School, said:
“Uniquely for a Junior School we are committed to careers and enterprise education. We have worked closely now with Form the Future for 3 years and the girls enjoy immensely the opportunity to learn more about the world of work and on this occasion specifically about enterprise, how to create a product, brand and market it. Giving the girls freedom to think outside the box and create a product shows us that our girls are blessed with great creativity and team working skills, both vital skills for the world of work.”
We thought it was amazing to see how much insight and excitement the young students gained by participating in this event. We hope it has inspired many of them to consider the skills they’ll need to succeed at school and in their future careers.
Sign up to our Volunteer Portal if you’re interested in getting involved with our events and inspiring the next generation! If your school would like to find out how we can equip your students with the skills and experience they’ll need to move into a successful and fulfilling career, please contact our Events team.
