Member Article

Allen & York and The Burgate School Enterprise

Date of event: Tuesday 26th June 2012

Allen & York, international Sustainability Recruitment Consultancy was pleased to be part of the first Enterprise Day at The Burgate School & Sixth Form, which was a great success. Students were set the task of setting up a fictional social enterprise T-shirt business.

The main aim of the day for the group of Year 10 pupils was to develop a number of vital skills in students including: • Leadership • Team Working • Employability Skills • Entrepreneurship • Time Management • Project Managements • Creativity • Social Responsibility

Allen & York’s, Managing Director, Mark Allen had the important role of mentoring and judging the students efforts. Mark worked with a number of groups within Year 10, guiding them through the complete process; assisting pupils to delegate appropriate roles to one another and providing advice and support through the concept generation, marketing and design stages of the project.

A Social Enterprise Focus

The topic of social responsibility was chosen to give students the clear view that social enterprises can be a viable alternative to profit driven business and that firms such as The One Foundation, Divine Chocolate and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant chain provide an exceedingly positive example to aspire to. As Allen & York support the drive towards a more sustainable future, with corporate responsibility key to their business principles, they were an excellent match to provide support during the day.

The Burgate School would like to promote the view, particularly in the business department that the pursuit of profit should not be at the cost of the environment and society.

“Overall, The Enterprise Day has enabled the students to further develop some vital skills that will help them to prosper in the real business environment after school, such as leadership teamworking, time management, dealing with high pressure situations, creativity and of course social responsibility.“

Allen Billinghurst-Bright & Karen Williams, The Burgate Business Studies Department

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Vicky Kenrick .