Students at Northampton Academy are celebrating their success at making the finals of the Ryman National Enterprise Challenge in Telford this week, where they pitched their entrepreneurial ideas to Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis.
One of the Academy’s students scooped the title of ‘Key Stage 4 Enterprising Boy of the Year’ for his team-leading skills and entrepreneurial spirit. Northampton Academy’s Key Stage 3 team also placed as runners-up in their category, having beaten over 20,000 entries nationally.
The competition, which is supported in the semi-final stages in school, in partnership with Barclays and Barclaycard staff, is designed to help students build and develop the key skills required in the workplace. Students were set a number of challenges including promoting the new Galactica ride at Alton Towers and designing an App to offer advice or support to others. Their ideas were presented to ‘Dragons’, demonstrating the use of their essential LORIC skills: leadership, organisation, resilience, initiative, communication.
Northampton Academy has taken part in the Ryman TNEC Challenge for the last five consecutive years and last year took home the title of ‘Enterprising School of the Year’. Participation comes during Enterprise Week, which aims to encourage leadership, entrepreneurship and teamwork by engaging students across the school in a variety of tasks and activities such as Market a Penguin and the County Challenge.
Northampton Academy Careers Manager Karen Betty said:
“I am very proud of our students who have worked very hard on this project. Theo Paphitis complimented them on their presentation and said how impressed he was. The Key Stage 3 team were a little disappointed not to have won first place but out of 20,000 entries it's an amazing achievement."
Dexter said "I’m really pleased to have won this award and my team are all part of what I’ve been involved in"