Mapplewells Primary and Nursery School in Sutton in Ashfield, Notthinghamshire, recently took part in the no limits primary enterprise project…and produced some fantastic results!

Deciding to run their project during their Enterprise Week, the school, along with no limits facilitator Ben Lumley, set the pupils the challenge of coming up with an idea for a product and service that they could sell at the school’s summer fair. Having a morning with Ben the week before Enterprise Week, the pupils (including the nursery children!!!) eagerly set to work coming up with their ideas before choosing the product or service that they would sell.

During Enterprise Week, the classes worked brilliantly to design and make their products and services, even sourcing support from home and local businesses. The staff were amazed at the resourcefulness of their students and were thoroughly impressed with what they produced.

On the Friday morning before the fair, representatives from each class took part in a trade fair in the school hall where invited Judges were given the opportunity to see what would be sold later on that day, and also to ask questions about how well the classes had worked and what challenges they had faced. The VIP judges decided that there would be a winner for best idea, as well as a winner for the class who made the most money at the summer fair. After much discussion, the best idea award was given to Year 1, whose Mad Hats (an exclusive range of individually styled and unique hats) was so good that it deserved to take the top prize.

The classes then emerged onto the school field in the afternoon to sell their products or services, and an awards morning was held during the follow week to celebrate everyone’s achievements and to announce the winners.
All of the classes did superbly well, with every team raising at least £80! However, the class that stood out above the rest by raising a staggering £285 was Year 4, who held a raffle and put on a talent show.

Everyone involved, both from the school and from no limits, were blown away by how well all of the classes got on.

In June of this year, no limits began a new enterprise project, in partnership with the Nottinghamshire Enterprise Learning Partnership, working with 25 primary schools in Nottinghamshire. The project, which runs until December 2010, aims to bring enterprise to the primary classroom, whilst helping teachers and staff to implement this important skill set into the school.

Enterprise education is usually reserved for secondary schools, where it’s believed that students are more mature and able to deal with its more unique skills like goal setting, working independently, meeting deadlines and creativity. In fact, we firmly believe that, when presented with some of these skills, pupils from primary schools perform as well if not better than their older counterparts. Unhindered by the concept of “no”, primary school students can excel during both the creation and execution of their ideas.

So far, the project has produced some amazing ideas for new enterprises – including social causes – and seen some brilliant teamwork skills that most adults would be proud of. From monsters that can save the world from environmental devastation, to social causes that help link schools in other parts of the world, the results seen so far have be remarkable.

Sarah Longmead of no limits said Asquith Primary School, the first school to take part in the project;

‘Year 6 really impressed with their excellent presentation skills after working on an enterprise project over the last 6 weeks. After a very difficult decision the winning team was SAS, well done to all involved’

Stay tuned for more updates on the primary school enterprise project or contact us for more information.

On Friday 25th June 2010, 100 Gift and Talented students from around Leicestershire attended a Movie Moguls themed Enterprise Day run by the folks from no limits at Leicester University. The Yr 7 and 8 pupils, from 9 schools in the Leicestershire area ,were given the challenge of coming up with a new idea for a movie that would appeal to a wide range of young people.

The day, run by no limits, kicked off with a fun and lively icebreaker session where all of the students were mixed up with each other to complete teambuilding and creative thinking exercises. All of the students eagerly got involved right from the off, and it wasn’t long before the energy in the room started to build. This was a fantastic way of building some early group cohesion that everyone could carry through the rest of the day.

When everyone had their brains working, the no limits team introduced their enterprise challenge for the day. The groups were required to generate their ideas for plots, genres, characters, location and potential dramatic twists before deciding on a final movie idea to work with. Spending the rest of the day to work on the idea, with help from student ambassadors from the University, the groups produced story boards for the plot and key scenes, a short movie trailer on the simple, but very effective, Window Movie Maker, as well as a raft of advertising materials and merchandising.

By the end of the day the students, many of whom had never met each other before the beginning of the day, were ready to present their ideas to an assembled panel of Movie Moguls as well as the other students, parents and family members in the new Fielding Johnson Lecture Theatre (pictured below). All of the 10 groups gave spirited and humorous presentations to sell their ideas to our Movie Moguls, who were so impressed that they remarked that many adults couldn’t have presented so well, and in front of so many people.

But there could only be one winner. After much deliberation, the Judges decided that the winning film was “The Unfinished Chapter”, the story of a boy who has to save the world from a deadly secret through books and his imagination.

Congratulations to everyone who attended and who put so much hard work in on the day!

no limits is proud to support Unleashing Enterprise and their Enterprise for All conference on 31st March 2010. Our very own Beverley Burton will be taking part in the conference.

The following information is taken directly from Unleashing Enterprise themselves.

Unleashing Enterprise is creating a partnership for all enterprise educators to pioneer a culture of enterprise across the East Midlands. The partnership is managed by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and developed in close partnership with educators, employers, enterprise agencies, policy makers and funding organisations. The programme is helping to facilitate a more cohesive and planned approach to the development and delivery of the enterprise offer in the East Midlands. It is also helping to promote opportunities for all people, but mainly young people, to take up the enterprise skills offer in their schools, communities or places of work.

The annual Unleashing Enterprise conference takes place on the 31^st March at the East Midlands Conference Centre. Entitled “Enterprise for All?”, the conference comes at an exciting time for those working in the field of enterprise capabilities with the enterprise skills agenda shortly to be included within the Regional Skills Strategy. With entrepreneurs heralded in popular media as much as in business journals these days, it is easy to assume that enterprise activity is readily understood and accessible to all. But is it? Or should it be?

There will be a range of keynote addresses and workshops covering all aspects of the enterprise agenda. Keynote speakers include:

Mike Chitty, entrepreneur and author of the BLOG, ?Enterprise & Entrepreneurship in the Community?

Diana Gilhespy, Executive Director Regeneration and Communities at emda

Toby Reid, Nottingham based entrepreneur and ex-graduate of NTU?s the Hive

Charles Cracknell, Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership

Stephen Hobbs, Director of Education, The Working Knowledge Group

There will also be an enterprise market place showcasing the best of enterprise in the East Midlands. Attendance at the conference is free for delegates and agencies that want to participate in the market place.

Enterprise for All? Has been designed to be of benefit for both enterprise practitioners and those wanting to find out more about this exciting area of activity.

For more information please click here

What is enterprise?

What is enterprise capability?

What is an entrepreneur?

Burning questions that can exercise debate for hours and drive academics to distraction when those of us who are more interested in practical application play with definitions! In any institution looking to develop and embed an enterprise culture it is vital that there is shared understanding and language.

However, people can get too hung up about having very precise definitions. The process of defining enterprise and what being enterprising means is vital for all those in an enterprising school (as it is with any other underpinning value in a school). I have had many debates about what it means to be enterprising, and often faced people who think enterprise is only about business.

Alongside these debates have been the heated discussions about the difference between being an enterprising person and being an entrepreneur.

For me, the key difference is simple and related to risk. Entrepreneurs have a vision and risk their own money, as well as their reputation (are willing to go out on a limb), to make things happen and realize that vision: enterprising people have the vision (but it may be more limited), and can risk their reputation to make things happen but generally risk other people’s money to do so.

There is, however, a significant difference between those who are entrepreneurs and those who aren’t in their perception of risk. Most entrepreneurs do not view what they’re trying to achieve as risky – they have dreams, ideas and set goals, often not knowing how they are going to achieve them. The “how” comes later! They just harness all the resources they can muster and boldly get started, planning and re-planning their route as they go, and as opportunities arise.

Others view it as risky. Others have ideas and dreams but are paralysed by worrying about “how” and fear of failure. They need to be clear about “how” before they start, which often prevents them from starting!

Here are some definitions as a “starter for 10” which are mine, or those I think best describe the concept:

Enterprise

Enterprise is starting something new. It’s deciding what you want to achieve, deciding what you’re prepared to pay (time, money, energy, sacrifice), and making it happen. This can be a social or business enterprise.

Enterprising People – Enterprise Capability

Enterprising people have the confidence, creative thinking skills and capabilities to have a vision and make it happen. They are able to see, create, develop and make the most of opportunities.

Entrepreneur

“Entrepreneurs are risk takers, willing to roll the dice with their money or reputation on the line in support of an idea or enterprise. They willingly assume responsibility for the success or failure of a venture and are answerable for all its facets.”
Victor Kiam.

Intrepreneur

Someone who is entrepreneurial within employment.

A range of definitions which I find useful are in the attached document.

What is enterprise

I would really like to hear your definitions.

So, why has Enterprise Week got all grown up and gone global? Not sure, but it makes sense to me. Our lives are increasingly influenced by global phenomenon. ‘Think global, act local’ is crystallised around the interdependency of our economies, our environment, and the power of global communication. The pace of change, global interconnectivity and the global challenges we face create a unique time.

This unique time needs enterprising people! Positive, ‘can do’ people with a growth mind-set: creative thinkers who find solutions and think and act quickly. It is vital that our young people learn to be enterprising – to see, create, develop and make the most of opportunities and rise to the challenge of change.

I see striking examples of young people’s enterprise all the time, and Global Entrepreneurship Week is a fantastic showcase of talent and potential.

Our LEO Enterprise Oscars was a glittering occasion involving 12 schools; a fantastic celebration of young peoples’ enterprise and hard work over the past six months. Young people, parents, school staff and “the great and the good” came together to celebrate great ideas, talent and achievement. The excitement and energy in the room was palpable and the films of student’s work testament to how enterprising young people can be given the opportunity and the guidance.

But that’s just some young people in some places!

What is our challenge as educators?

Our challenge is to ensure all young people get the opportunity to develop their enterprise capability to help them secure their future personal, social and economic well-being. If young people leave school lacking enterprise capability, we have failed to prepare them effectively for the world they’re going into.

How can we do this?

Now that’s too big a question to answer in one article, but in summary it means:

-       recognising the interconnectivity between the individual and the wider world. Just as we recognise the economic and environmental global interconnectivity, we need to join the dots more effectively between individuals and their immediate and wider community;

-       replacing the tunnel vision of immediate tasks, demands and curriculum content with more of a helicopter view that joins the dots between the different aspects of an individual’s world;

-       recognising, valuing and systematically developing the capabilities an individual needs to achieve personally, socially and economically;

-       making the curriculum more relevant and focused on developing capabilities and competencies rather than just being content-focused.

This doesn’t mean ditching everything we do, but rather doing things differently – facilitating learning more than teaching – teaching English in a way that also develops enterprise capability. As the song says; “It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it!”

Teaching in an enterprising way is also good quality teaching!

The planning and reality of a real social enterprise project at Djanogly City Academy, Nottingham.

(find out more in our enterprise section)