Chocolate profit

SINCE Hayward School became the Essa Academy pupils are expected to get involved in business enterprise schemes.

Enterprise has become a core part of the what the school is about and all pupils have one hour a week when they can do anything — except academic studies.

The session is where pupils often come up with money-making ideas which they can pitch to the school finance director David Mole.

They develop team-buildinhg skills as they discuss business ideas which have cross-curricular impact.

He can give small cash grants to fund ideas and the students can keep any profits as long as the pack the initial investment.

The school held a £10 challenge as part of its entreprise enrichment activities where students had to come up with an enteprise idea and were provided with a £10 initial investment.

They had 10 weeks to complete the challenge and five teams were set up involving students from mixed year groups.

Each team planned the idea and applied for finance from the finance director, and then sold their products.

The winners were Mystic Choc, formed from a group of four Year Eight and Year 10 pupilsa who made £80 from their original £10 investment by selling hot chocolate for a week during the cold weather.

Head of business Rebecca Keeling said: “Enterprise is one of our key parts of the ethos with in the Essa Academy and we are trying as many different ways as we can to get all the year groups thinking about and creating enterprise.

“Now enterprise is getting bigger all the time and when we have parents’ evenings we are getting positive feedback. They understand that enterprise is essential part of what the students learn here will help them when they leave school. ”