Elmwood & Penrose Federation 'enterprising students'

The Elmwood & Penrose Federation

In November 2016 an external sales venue was established. A Stall at Angel Place Shopping Centre.
Students across the Federation make products and staff the stall. Averaging takings have been in the region of £70 per session.

Background information:

There has been a move to improve the quality, range and participation across the federation of the production of enterprise products. This has been an area of focus over recent years, with increased emphasis and momentum this academic year.

Enterprise is an excellent means of creating purpose for learning for our students and making the link between effort and money as well as developing a huge range of other skills for example:

• Improved communication skills
• Improved money recognition and maths skills
• Breakdown barriers between the public and our students
• Increase employability skills
• Develop an understanding of how business works
• Team work & problem solving
• Increased enthusiasm by creating clear purpose for learning
• Increased self-confidence
• Willingness to take responsibility and show initiative
• Time management
• Effective work and social skills

Interview:

Roger Smith the Shopping Centre Manager said,

“even with my limited contact with the students I saw a real change in the level of confidence of the students from when I first saw them, they looked as if they really wanted to be there and were getting a lot from it”

Julia Tabb Teacher commented, “The impact on students was great in many ways. The skills that students developed in core subjects had a massive impact as they became more aware of the everyday application of skills being taught in school, making them more relevant. This has impacted on class based lessons because students get the idea that they are being taught skills for life after school rather than a 'that's what you do in school' attitude. I feel the biggest impact can be seen in social interaction and self-esteem. The idea of enterprise nurtures both teamwork and confidence and for our students the growth in these was very apparent from early on in the process and is helped further by the interaction needed when selling to the public. The whole enterprise programme has been so very successful for our student’s development and the added impact of the market place has moved it on to another level."

More information:

The stall takes place every Wednesday 10-12

Each site supports the others in making products to sell on the stall

Additional benefits, include:

• Raising the profile of the Federation in the community
• Increasing the communities experience and knowledge of our students
• Gaining an additional venue to sell the range of products
• Breaking down barriers
• Providing a rich communication platform for our students.

Conclusion:

Sudents with the right support are able to make very high quaity products that the public will buy, the feedback on the products made has been very positive:

“the continuation of product quality is key as it needs to blend with what we do as a Shopping Centre”

The students are very proud of what they make and really enjoy selling them on the stall.