Check back later for an article on a great day featuring Olympic Medallist Bryan Steele, some inspirational ideas from Post 16 students from 5 Nottingham Schools.

• Djanogly City Academy
• Arnold Hill
• Colonel Frank Seely
• Lake View
• Nottingham High School for Girls

no limits‘ Beverley Burton has begun working with the Heritage High School to help improve their delivery of enterprise education with a variety of different initiatives ranging from enterprise challenge events to an Enterprise Club. The purpose is to help the school widen the development and application of “enterprise skills” across the curriculum, and to improve the school’s engagement with local businesses.

From this idea, the concept of the Heritage Gallery was born: an umbrella organisation run by some of the school’s most enterprising students.

To date, small seeds of business are sprouting, with a jewellery-making business run by Kira Easton, as well as a jewellery recycling enterprise created by Nadine Lander, Thalia Wyatt, Siobhan McHale and Zoe Stevens. Both businesses sold their products at the school’s plant sale on the 7th May.

Other enterprises include a car washing outfit and a fledging media business.

To find out more, check out the April Issue of the Heritage High School Newsletter.

Taken from a recent Unleashing Enterprise Press Release

Engaging Young People in Enterprise

The needs of aspiring East Midlands young entrepreneurs are to be addressed with the launch of a Young People’s Enterprise Forum.

The forum will provide students, young businesspeople and those interested in starting their own venture with access to mentoring, best practice guidelines, help and advice.

no limits education, an organisation that specialises in developing young people’s enterprise skills, agreed to establish the forum after attending a roundtable discussion organised by Unleashing Enterprise, which took place at Nottingham Contemporary on 15 March.

Jane Walton, Policy Director from Enterprising Yorkshire led the discussion and detailed the structure of the Young Person’s Enterprise Forum developed in Yorkshire.

The forum will initially be trialed at Tibshelf School in Derbyshire, with support from students who attended the event in Nottingham. If successful, the forum will them be implemented at schools across the region, using social media platforms to share the information discussed at each forum.

Beverley Burton, Managing Director of no limits education, said:

“The day was a fantastic success and we have already begun taking the next steps towards setting up the pilot forum, run by young people for young people, at Tibshelf School.”

Sarah Lee, Regional Manager for Unleashing Enterprise, said:

“The event aimed to give students and enterprise practitioners the opportunity to take part in a varied discussion, learn about new topics and share opinions on the future development of a YPEF in the East Midlands”.

For more information please visit www.unleashing-enterprise.co.uk or email Alina@unleashing-enterprise.co.uk

photo credit: Port of San Diego

I’ve been there, you’ve been there, the people you work with have been there and you may still be there now! It’s that moment when you are completely drained of any new ideas or fresh inspiration. It might be an old challenge or a completely new one but one thing is always the same. When you need some fresh inspiration, you just don’t know where to begin.

With my work with young people in education, I have been guilty in the past of expecting them to be creative in their thinking whilst forgetting that, for me, it would also be a challenge. So that is why I need a structure to help me generate new solutions, or a process to enable me to change my perspective and look at things differently.

Being creative is not about being able to draw or sing or act, it’s about finding new ways to fix old problems, or getting fresh stimulus from some unexpected places.

In this article, I am going to briefly share with you some of the creative strategies that I employ both in working with young people, and in our work at no limits education. We have employed many of these strategies in enterprise challenge events, or during CPD training with teaching and learning staff.

So… here we go. 1st of 4 strategies to get you thinking differently….

Strategy 1 – Colour

It affects our moods; it reminds us of certain objects, some we like and some we don’t….there is so much going on with colour and we draw associations with colour all the time.

For example, pretty in pink, green agenda, grey pound, I’ve got the blues, brown field construction, Golden era, diamond geezer (can’t believe I just wrote that!!) So, let’s turn a challenge on its head. Step away from what you are trying to do and just pick some colours. Then write down absolutely everything you can think of that you associate with that colour. Places, feelings and emotions… write them all down. Objects, celebrations and occasions… nothing is a bad idea at this stage; just throw them out there. Once you feel like you have exhausted your ideas walk away, then come back and add another 10.

So how does this help get fresh inspiration? How does this enable my enterprise group at school to come up with a new product? How does this help our team at work think of a new way to market our business? Well , let’s see if you can follow this…….

New concept for a cruise ship holiday

• chosen colour – black (ok I know it’s a shade rather than a colour, but just go with me on this!)
• one of the associations from the word black – Secret agents/Spys
• Dropping it back into the cruise ship holiday….we have a brand new theme and concept.

It becomes a spy cruise. The boat would obviously have to be some kind of stealth ship to avoid radar contact. Whilst onboard, the “spy tourists” would take part in espionage games solving mysteries, making contact with their handlers, etc…Maybe the cruise would visit some cold war destinations, and scenes from spy films such as James Bond or the Bourne Trilogy. Of course, there would have to be a Casino Royale evening in the onboard casino.

The spy theme would give you an idea of food and features of the cruise, room designs and activities…..but remember, it all started with ‘think of a colour’. If someone had asked you to think of a new cruise, would this be where you would have ended up? Would it have been anything innovative, or would you have followed established patterns and experiences? Using fresh stimulus enables us to bring innovative ideas into established situations….creative thinking!

On Wednesday night at the Festival Hall in Kirkby, 300 students, parents, business coaches, teachers and distinguished guests came together to celebrate another fantastic year of the LEO Enterprise Academy. Every secondary school from the Mansfield, Ashfield and Boslover Districts shared in the success of everyone involved with the 2010 project in a glitzy, glamorous, red-carpet style event hosted by no limits‘ own Jeremy Southgate.

The culmination of a year’s hard work for all of the students and schools involved resulted in a fabulous awards evening where, amongst other things, the winners of the overall grand prize of a 5-day trip to New York were announced. You can find a full list of the winners from this year’s Oscars evening listed below…

Winning Team from the Mansfield district:

The Meden School – Bio-Write

Winning Team from the Ashfield district:

Sutton Centre – Master Key

Winning Team from the Bolsover district:

Heritage – Kinstec

Outstanding Contribution Award for the Mansfield district:

Callum Sharp from Queen Elizabeth’s School

Outstanding Contribution Award for the Ashfield district:

Kyle Greasley from Kirkby College

Outstanding Contribution Award for the Bolsover district:

Sarah Healey from Heritage School

Most Creative Idea:

The Meden School – Bio-Write

Most Viable Business Idea:

Sutton Centre – Master Key

Teamwork Award:

The Brunts – Eco Plus

Outstanding Sales Presentation:

Manor School – Eco Dog

Best Business Plan:

Heritage School – Kinstec

Most Effective Marketing:

Manor School – Eco Dog

Best TV Advert:

The Brunts – Eco Plus

Best Radio Jingle:

The Brunts – Eco Plus

Most Resourceful Team:

The National School – Make it Green

The Best Prototype Award:

Kirkby College – Econator

And the Overall Winner of the 2010 LEO Enterprise Academy is…..

The Brunts School with ‘Eco Plus’

To see a quick selection of some of the photos from the evening, check out the slide show below. We’ll be posting more photos and some fantastic video very soon so keep your eyes peeled.

So, our winners from the 2009 LEO Enterprise Challenge have finally claimed their prize after it had to be postponed due to the Icelandic ash cloud earlier in the year.

On Friday, 1^st October, with nothing to hold them back this time , the group of 4 students from the Ashfield School, accompanied by staff from the school and representatives from LEO,  jetted off to the Big Apple. and began their trip by visiting Time Square and the theatre district.

The 6-day trip kicked off with a visit to Times Square and the theatre district, and was followed by visits to the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, Macy’s, the Empire State Building, Central Park, the Bank of New York Mellon, Columbia University and Reuters, as well as taking in a pre-season Ice Hockey Game!

As you can see from the short video above, the group had a great and were exhausted when they arrived home.

But who will win this year’s prize?

On the 20th of October, 17 of our Enterprise Academy Schools converged on the John Fretwell Sports Centre in Mansfield to pitch their ideas for eco friendly products and services to a group of invited judges and guests.

The day kicked off with the teams setting up their stands with a variety of different displays and pieces of technology, followed by an initial briefing before the judges started their tour of the hall. All of the teams had to constantly be “on” as the judging was non-stop through until lunch so there was no chance for anyone to have a rest. After a short lunch break the judges continued to make the rounds to ensure that they had all of the information they needed to make a clear decision.

The Judges had a tough job of choosing the winners of the following categories…

· Winning Idea from each of the 3 districts
· Outstanding Contribution Award for each of the 3 districts.
· Most Creative Idea
· Most Viable Business Idea
· Teamwork Award
· Outstanding Marketing Presentation
· Best Business Plan
· Best Sales and Marketing Strategy
· Best TV Advert
· Best Radio Jingle
· Most Resourceful Team
· The Best Prototype Award

The judges spent some considerable time deliberating and finally came to their decisions. So the results are now in the everyone will find out who has won that fantastic trip to New York and we’ll reveal them here on the blog live from the 2010 Leo Enterprise Challenge Oscars evening on the 17th November.

no limits is proud to be working alongside a group of IT Diploma students from the Djanogly City Academy, The Nottingham Bluecoat School and Fernwood Comprehensive School.

As part of their course, the students are travelling to The Jabula Combined School, Lidgetton, Kwa Zulu Natal, to help their IT department create a school network, to deliver multimedia workshops with some Grade 10 Students, to organise a Dragon’s Den event, and also to arrange a mini Olympics.

no limits’ Managing Director, Beverley Burton, is travelling with the IT Diploma students to help support them with the enterprise elements of the trip.

To find out more about the group’s trip, check out their blog at vinezsa.tumblr.com

An open invitation to the…

2010 LEO Enterprise Challenge Event Trade Fair Final

Date: Wednesday, 20th October 2010.
Venue: John Fretwell Centre, Mansfield Woodhouse.
Time: 10.15am – 12.00pm or 12.45pm – 2.15pm

Between April and July 2010, Year 9 students from secondary schools across the districts of Ashfield, Mansfield and Bolsover engaged in the LEO Enterprise Challenge programme, to design and produce either a household product that would have a positive effect on the environment, or a toy/game that will help educate children about environmental issues.

Now, the winning teams of students from each school will come together to exhibit their products/services at a Trade Fair, where they will pitch their ideas to selected judges from the world of business and from the local community.

The Trade Fair will be operating for 2 sessions: morning 10.15-12.00, and afternoon 12.45-2.15. We hope you will be able to come along at any time during one of these sessions to support the young people and to see the amazing work they have been doing. We suggest guests give themselves approx 1 hour to see all the exhibits.

Entry is free and registration is not required.

The first 2 stages of the 2010 LEO Enterprise Academy Challenge are now complete, with winning teams from all schools looking forward to going through to the final stage. Year 9 students from 18 schools in the Mansfield, Ashfield and Bolsover districts have been involved with Challenge events run by the team at no limits, in association with LEO (the Local Enterprise Organisation).

Stage 1 Events

The first part of the Enterprise Academy Challenge involved every school taking part in a Challenge Event in their individual schools. They were set an environmental challenge, and had to choose between one of the 2 following options:

1. to design and produce a product for use in the household that would have a positive impact on the environment. This could be through recycling, reduced energy costs, or another innovative idea.
2. to design and produce a toy or game that would educate children, teenagers or adults in environmental issues.

Split into groups, the students were given time to generate their initial ideas within a group discussion. The best ideas were then debated further, the pros and cons of each carefully looked at, and the best idea identified. On some occasions, this discussion was heated, with people passionately pleading the case for their product or game. Even though, for some, this may seem like a waste of valuable time, it is in fact an important enterprise skill that allows people to thoroughly discuss all of the options available, and is vital to the decision- making process. Once a decision had been arrived at, the groups then set to work on the list of tasks that needed to be completed in order to “pitch” their idea to the selected group of VIP judges. This included the creation of marketing materials, a summary business plan, and 3D prototypes. At the end of the day, each group was given time in front of the rest of the year group to pitch the idea to our judges (who, at times, included members of the local council, representatives from local business, and members of the senior leadership team from the school). After hearing each pitch, the judges were then left with the difficult task of choosing a winning team to take forward. Sometimes this was relatively easy, as one team may have really stood out, but there were a few occasions when even the judges where passionately arguing the cause for their favourite idea.

District Events

After being selected as school winners, each group then moved on to a district event where they were given a series of task to take their idea forward to the trade fair. This included:

• Creating a company history
• Preparing a Marketing and Sales strategy
• and storyboarding a TV advert

The no limits team also ensured that the teams were given a checklist for the next stage that they could use to effectively prepare all of the items needed to impress the judges one last time.

The district events were held in 3 locations throughout the academy, one at the Manor School for the winning schools from the Mansfield District, one at Kirkby College for the Ashfield Schools, and finally, one at the Shirebrook School for all of the winning schools in the Bolsover District.

Trade Fair

Due to take place on the 20th October 2010, the Trade Fair will be the teams’ last chance to impress the assembled judges from education and business with their ideas.

Just like a real Trade Fair, the teams will need to set up their stands and promote their ideas effectively throughout the day to the people attending, some of whom will be judges, whilst others will be invited guests. The teams will use their promotional materials, marketing and sales strategy, TV and radio adverts to persuade the judges to pick them.

More details from the Trade Fair to come – watch this space.

Oscars Evening

The final part of the 2010 Leo Enterprise Academy Challenge will be a glitzy Oscars Evening, held locally, where all of the final teams, their family members, and invited VIPs will gather to find out who has won which award and, most of all, who’s won the overall prize of a trip to New York!!!

During the awards evening, the winners of the following categories will be announced:

• Winning Idea from each of the 3 districts
• Outstanding Contribution Award for each of the 3 districts.
• Most Creative Idea
• Most Viable Business Idea
• Teamwork Award
• Outstanding Marketing Presentation
• Best Business Plan
• Best Sales and Marketing Strategy
• Best TV Advert
• Best Radio Jingle
• Most Resourceful Team
• The Best Prototype Award

And not forgetting the overall winner of the 2010 Leo Enterprise Academy Challenge.

For a review of last year’s Oscar’s evening, take a look at latest news section of our Enterprise Academy Website.