Wakefield pupils prepare to enter Dragons Den

Published by Richard Lord for Wakefield & District Housing in Housing and also in Communities, Education, Environment

Over 2,000 young entrepreneurs from Wakefield will have the chance to pitch business ideas to some of the district’s most influential businessmen and women in a Dragons Den style enterprise challenge next month.

Year 9 pupils from 11 schools across the district have been asked to develop a plan for an improved, sustainable residential area in the local community and will present their strategies to a panel of judges including Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) chief executive Kevin Dodd.

Each idea must include a project name, a design brief, drawings and models to pitch to the panel, as well as questionnaires and estimated costs to get the pupils thinking of all business aspects.

The competition, which is being run by North East Learning Community (NELC) that got underway in November last year, is being supported by WDH and Compact Education Business Services. WDH has pledged to support the winning entry by committing to bring the idea into reality.

Nigel Turner, NELC co-ordinator, said: “It’s a pleasure to see the WDH Challenge expand from three schools last year to 11 participating schools across the district this year.

“The semi finals have been organised in response to the overwhelming number of schools wishing to take part in this exciting project. We expect the students to come up with some brilliant ideas to improve their local areas and we’re looking forward to their presentations at the grand final.”

WDH Skills and Enterprise Manager Tim Craven said: “Each school will select a team to represent them in one of three semi-final events to be held at Merefield House in Glasshoughton and those that impress the area judges the most will go through to the final.

“We want to create confident communities and this is an excellent way to get everyone from all generations involved and working together.”

Pupils from Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield are generating ideas of how they could improve an area of land outside the school, adjacent to an allotment they developed in 2009.

Janet Sharkey, enterprise co-ordinator at Kettlethorpe High, said: “The WDH challenge brings a great opportunity to continue to build community cohesion.

“Parents and staff who walk to school – and residents from the housing estate – will be part of the pupils’ research. There is a strong desire to improve the area and thus is getting our pupils fired up to develop ideas and create designs to give it a fresh, new and attractive appearance.”

Kettlethorpe High pupil Shannon Rowney, 14, said: “The project is exciting. It’s different to our usual lessons and we can be creative. We want to come up with something that everyone from the local community can enjoy.” 

Pupils from the winning team will each receive an iPod Shuffle, provided by North East Learning Community.