Year 9 Enterprise Challenge

On Monday 7th October, Year 9 were excited to tackle a brand-new Enterprise Challenge.

Working together in their tutor groups, students delegated roles and developed their teamwork skills, following the brief to ‘organise an event or party with an Autumnal theme’, with a budget of £300. The guest list, age and demographic of guests and the nature of the party was entirely up to each group.

The annual careers event which introduces some of the demands met in a professional working environment, encourages students to consider their skillset and soon taught Year 9 that event planning is not all plain sailing.

As they developed their ideas, one group discovered that hiring the Love Island villa for a pool party would involve numerous risk assessments as well as the additional cost of a lifeguard; not only requiring more planning time, but hiking the cost up from their initial £10 ticket price. On the other hand, another team smartly (or not!) decided to throw their festivities at a parents’ house in order to keep budget costs low.

Nevertheless, students rose to the challenges of planning, budgeting and marketing, eventually presenting their creative ideas to the rest of their year group. Ranging from formal events to children’s parties, each and every team worked with their audience in mind and delivered a well thought out project.

In the end, judges could not help but ‘Freak Out’ over the winning choice’s neon themed party, attracting partygoers with an informative website and eye-catching advert.

Our caterers at Oakview Restaurant even supported the event by providing tasty, on-theme zombie cupcakes, alongside a take home goodie bag.

Head of Careers, Sally Saunders explained “The Enterprise Challenge is all about making decisions and understanding how these will impact on others, as well as learning about different roles within business and what they entail. Students have learnt how to work together in a team and listen to each other when negotiating and meeting deadlines. It’s like a mini version of The Apprentice and it sits nicely with our Year 9s Options process.”

The Enterprise Challenge support students, helping them to gain greater self-understanding, explore their options and make decisions about the next stage of their education from GCSEs through to tertiary education and employment.