How far can £10 get you?

Preceding their annual RAG week celebrations, students at Sir John Leman Sixth Form have undertaken an "enterprise challenge" in order to raise money both for charity and Sixth Form facilities. In their form groups, each team was given £10 to work with and instructed to come up with a business idea to make as much profit as possible. The challenge is open until the 15th of December, one week before the end of the Autumn term. Ideas quickly began to flow, and business propositions have ranged from selling hot drinks and biscuits to teachers during their break, to a murder mystery challenge for anyone to participate in.

 

Part of the challenge not only came from the teams needing to come up with, and agree on an idea, but also to find the best way to market it, as well as making the most of their initial £10 budget. Posters have been appearing all around the building for the last few weeks, in order to advertise these business ventures to students and staff throughout the school.

 

Students found that by participating in this challenge, their communication skills improved, and confidence was boosted when talking to people in order to advertise, as well as when first coming up with ideas.

 

The profits made from this enterprise challenge will be split between the three charities selected for the schools Raising and Giving week at the end of term, as well as going towards making improvements to sixth form facilities. Each year, money goes to a local, national, and international charity, and this year these are: Top Cats, locally raising money for providing support activities and opportunities for young people with disabilities, the Samaritans, who provide care and support for people struggling, and Environmental Group. Last year money was sent to charities, as well as being put towards buying better lighting fixtures for the study room to create a calm and focused environment.

 

By raising money in this way, students are able to feel the satisfaction of giving money to deserving homes, as well as seeing physical rewards for their achievements- Year 12 student Isabelle Armstrong said she finds it "an inspiring way to donate to charity". On top of this, providing an internal element of competition, the form group to raise the most money will win a prize, traditionally a box of chocolates.