Abbey Gate College – National Young Enterprise competition
05 Mar 2014
The pupils of Year 6 at Abbey Gate College were recently given the opportunity to take part in a National Young Enterprise competition linked with the Tenner project. The school was invited to represent the North West and was one out of just ten schools across the UK to have just 24 hours to make as much profit from a £10 investment as possible. The money raised will be donated to the College’s charity, which this year is the GEM Appeal, and the school who makes the most profit hailed the victor!
The Abbey Gate College event took place in February and involved links with a range of artists, professional and amateur, from the North West region in a ‘one night only’ art exhibition at Aldford School. The pupils held a private viewing of the artwork and for every piece sold to their guests, received commission. The children worked out all the logistics themselves and invested their £10 in producing invitations to the event.
To help raise the profile of the exhibition, all the pupils at the school dressed up as famous pieces of artwork for the day and the response to the concept of this unique event was fantastic, with local artists commenting that it is a rare opportunity to be able to publicise their work whilst also supporting a local school and raising money for charity. All the pupils made a fantastic effort with some truly extravagant outfits making an appearance, from Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Edward Munch’s The Scream to Rene Magritte’s The Son of Man – which features a bowler-hatted man with an apple for a head.
The College would like to extend its thanks to Annie Midwood, local artist, and Ed Reeves of Moneypenny, Wrexham, for all their help and support in arranging the event in which over 200 guests attended and £1514.08 profit was raised which saw the Y6 pupils become the victors, beating off some tough competition from large secondary schools and even a Sixth Form College.
Suzanne Lockwood, the Young Enterprise manager for the North West, said, “What really shone through was the enthusiasm for business from all of the young people. I was truly impressed by their understanding of finance, their appreciation of the hard work it took to pull the event together and their sheer delight in the success of it all. They really can’t wait to take part in Tenner next month and have proved just what their business brains are made of!”
Their success was picked up by the national BBC Breakfast team and three pupils from the group were interviewed about their roles in the unique event and then went on to speak further on Radio Five Live. Mrs Findlay, Head of the Junior School and Y6 teacher said “ The pupils are so very proud of their achievement – they worked exceptionally hard to make the event a success and to have national TV and Radio acknowledge this was a huge honour.”
The pupils are now busy planning a day trip to London to visit the National Gallery and an Auction House.
Pupils: Charlie Cheadle, Morgan Cox, Jemima Mullock, Ben Rimmer, Olivia Henderson
Teacher: Mrs Rebecca Findlay