Students encouraged to be enterprising

To help prepare students for the workplace and to ensure they have the core skills needed to succeed, schools across the country will be holding a wide range of events and activities during Enterprise Week.

The week provides a focal point for all schools to raise the profile of enterprise and help ensure we have a future workforce that is able to adapt to the changing demands of the global economy and globalisation in the 21st century.

Commenting on the week of activities Elizabeth Reid, Chief Executive of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, said:

'Schools are playing a vital role in embedding an enterprise culture and equipping students with valuable skills that will bring benefits to them, the economy and society. It is important that students are enterprising so they can achieve their potential and have the self-confidence to succeed in their future working lives.

'There are 245 specialist Business and Enterprise colleges in England and combined with the Schools’ Enterprise Education Network, which uses these colleges to support all secondary schools in the teaching and learning of enterprise, students are being provided with a wide range of enterprise skills and work related learning pathways.'

Helen Beardmore, Business and Enterprise Coordinator at the SSAT said:

'Enterprise Week provides a focal point for all schools to raise the profile of enterprise – this week long event is an extension of the excellent enterprise activities and teaching and learning already taking place in our schools.'

Business and Enterprise Colleges have embraced the week. One such school is New Mills School and Sixth Form Centre in North Derbyshire where all students and staff are actively involved in developing enterprise skills and capabilities with a wide range of activities during Enterprise Week.

For example, Year 12 and 13 students took part in a Stock Exchange challenge which developed their team work, decision-making and risk-taking skills. In addition, year 7 students developed their communication and problem-solving skills by working together in a group to manoeuvre planks connected by rope. Year 5 students from the local primary feeder schools were also actively involved as they came on site to learn about space travel with a rocket. Year 11 students demonstrated their creativity by producing a short animation using ICT, whilst media students launched a new mobile phone and had to create an advert – they were given a £1000 budget and had to pay for the teacher’s time as a consultant.

This week also saw the opening of New Mills purpose built construction centre, and on the day year 11 students got a taster of the construction industry by working in teams to build a wall.

Trevor Langston, Deputy Headteacher at New Mills School and Sixth Form Centre commented: 'The students had a very productive day. They were given a chance to work as a team, for an extended period, on a problem. They really impressed themselves and our visitors by achieveing some first rate solutions to problems.'

Enterprise Week is an annual UK-wide week of activities inspiring people in their teens and twenties to be enterprising. Last year 400,000 people attended 2,000 events. This year there will be over 3,000 events. For further information about Enterprise Week go to www.enterpriseweek.org

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Notes to editors

1. The Schools’ Enterprise Education Network (S'EEN) is a network of Business & Enterprise Colleges providing support and CPD for all secondary schools in England. There will be 51 hub schools, more than 160 spoke schools, and 5 national network hubs.
2. Photographs of the activities at New Mills school are available.
3. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust is the leading national body for secondary education in England, part funded by the DfES, delivering the Government's Specialist Schools and Academies programme. The Government's aim is that by 2010 all schools will be specialist or academies.
1. The Trust seeks to give more young people access to a good secondary education by building networks, sharing practice and supporting schools. The Trust's way of working is based on the principle 'by schools for schools'.
2. There are over 3,000 schools affiliated to the Trust including primary, secondary and special schools and academies.
3. Over 80% of all secondary schools in England now have specialist status. The 2,602 specialist schools are maintained English secondary schools which teach the full national curriculum but give particular attention to their specialist subject, sometimes through an extended school day. All maintained secondary schools are eligible to bid for specialist status.
4. Specialist schools are nearly all comprehensive schools dedicated to accepting pupils with a wide range of ability. Schools specialise in teaching the arts, business & enterprise, engineering, the humanities, languages, mathematics & computing, music, science, sports, vocational subjects, and technology. There are also SEN trailblazer schools.
5. There are currently 46 academies open and the Government plans for 200 to be open or in the pipeline by 2010. Academies are all ability schools that aim to challenge the culture of educational underattainment and to deliver real improvements in standards. All academies are located in areas of disadvantage. They either replace one or more existing schools facing challenging circumstances or are established where there is a need for additional school places.
6. Academies offer a broad and balanced curriculum to pupils of all abilities focusing especially on one or more subject areas. As the academy becomes successfully established it will share its expertise and facilities with other schools and the wider community.
7. Further information on specialist schools and academies can be found at www.ssatrust.org.uk or www.dfes.gov.uk 
8. For further information please contact Michael Turner, Media Relations Manager, on 020 7802 2334 or michael.turner@ssatrust.org.uk