News
Article about Enterprise Week 2011 Aylsham High School
Monday 14th to Friday 18th November was National Enterprise week and Business and Enterprise at Aylsham High School was very busy. On Monday 14th the Young Chamber organised a “Super Challenge Day” for the year seven and eight pupils. The main aim was to come up with an idea to bring visitors to Norfolk during the Olympics. The day was a huge success with many bright ideas. On Thursday and Friday of the week the Enterprise spirit was in full flow, year nine Business and Enterprise students had the chance to run their own business. Students had completed market research to find out what their customers wanted and lots of different products and services were on offer. Cakes and biscuits were sold along with the competitions including Darts and Sand Sifting.
On Friday 18th we had a very special guest, Mark Prisk, Minister for Business and Enterprise. He spent half of the morning with us discovering what we do at Aylsham High School. Not only was this a great achievement for our school to be selected but he also gave us lots of advice. He said “I have been inspired today. To meet your generation and see what you are doing is brilliant.” Those words mean a lot to Aylsham High School and they leave us all feeling very proud. The importance of this visit has been recognised by the media and articles have appeared in many papers including the Eastern Daily Press, the Norwich Evening News, and the North Norfolk News as well as featuring on BBC Radio Norfolk.
This has been a busy week for me and one I have thoroughly enjoyed. I really enjoy enterprise because I do lots of fun and motivational actives that allow me to improve my enterprise skills; these help me in all of my other lessons. The day was a chance in a million and the Minister loved exploring Business and Enterprise at our school. However, we also wanted to know about how we can take our Business and Enterprise skills further and one of my Young Chamber colleagues, Alex Ridgway asked “I don’t want to go to college; I want to get straight out there and do an aircraft apprenticeship. But why is it so hard to find one in Norfolk?” Mark Prisk replied by saying he knows there has been a shortage in apprenticeships but the Government is committed to increasing this number.
I am proud to be a member of the Aylsham High School Young Chamber and the aim for us is to continue to develop and support the links between business and our school. I see the importance of the work we do and so do our teachers who motivate us.
Our teachers, Miss Auber and Mr Turrell said “Enterprise is special at our school. The work of the Business and Enterprise department team and our outstanding Young Chamber allows the entrepreneurial spirit to flourish”.
The week was a massive success, the Business and Enterprise activities made the whole school buzz and we were so glad we got to impress the Minister with what we do.
By Amelia Sawyer-Stone
Please click here to see a letter written to the school from Mr Prisk
