“The entrepreneurial instinct is in you. You can’t learn it, you can’t buy it, you can’t put it in a bottle. It’s just there and it comes out,” Lord Sugar once said.
It is clear that some of our pupils have great entrepreneurial spirit and skills already. Preparing pupils for life beyond school starts at WPS and that took the form of the Year 6 Enterprise Scheme. This project, a summer term tradition, helps the children develop their organisational, mathematical, financial and communication skills, as well as their creative thinking.
Each year, the Year 6 pupils complete the Enterprise Scheme where they set up a business from scratch on a fixed budget from the school (no supplements from their parents). They design their homemade products, logos, posters and the layout of their stall before they open for business to the school and their parents.
This cohort clearly had a sweet tooth and knew their target market very well because they all went for edible businesses: candyfloss, customised cupcakes, waffles, pick and mix, lucky dip (with confectionery prizes) and a roulette wheel (with different bags of sweets as prizes).
Having worked in Maths lessons to budget for their costs and worked out their sale prices, the class took a trip to the shops to purchase all their ingredients and other resources, ensuring that they stuck to their budget and lists carefully.
All the children did brilliantly and everyone made a profit. Each child was allowed to keep 10% of their profits, while the remaining 90% was donated to our WPS community charities. They were extremely proud to have raised over £160 in what can be considered a hugely successful project!