Case Studies
Case study: Heath Park School
A Wolverhampton school has used entrepreneurial skills to feed back into its curriculum. Shari Baker reports
Radical changes in the curriculum, nurturing community links with business entrepreneurs, and placing young people at the heart of school initiatives, are just a few of the key changes made by Heath Park School since achieving business and enterprise specialist status in 2004.
Case study: Highfurlong School
Special schools are not generally known for their focus on business culture, but at Highfurlong School in Blackpool, teacher Joanne Martin is set to change that perception, writes Shari Baker
Working with a supportive staff team from across the school, Joanne has helped to set up more than 80 different businesses to give pupils, half of whom are in wheelchairs, the experiences and skills they need to take their place in the world after leaving school.
Case study: Thornaby Community School
Shari Baker reports on the money-raising schemes set up by a school in Stockton-on-Tees
Arguably, the £5.5 million Government funding awarded to re-model and improve current buildings and technology has enabled substantial upgrades to the learning environment, but these improvements are not the sole contributing factor to what has effectively been a complete about-change in attitude, achievement and enterprise at Thornaby Community School.
Case study: Fulston Manor School
A Kent school is putting the fun into fundraising, says Shari Baker
Fulston Manor School is a large 11-18 school in Sittingbourne, Kent, with a wholesome and enterprising ethic, guided by the simple premise, "however important education is to the lives of young people, it also has to be fun”. With academic results consistently above those for other comparable schools, and an Ofsted report with soaring results, it would seem that placing fun at the centre of their enterprise activities is a choice that has paid dividends.
Case study: Brockworth Enterprise School
This school is a co-educational, fully comprehensive community school, with 600 pupils, and a sixth form of an additional 70 pupils. It is the first business and enterprise specialist school in Gloucester, writes Shari Baker
Brockworth Enterprise School has an abundance of charm and tenacity, and understands the power of diversity and know-how to make the best of what it has. Combining hard work with clever marketing skills, it has successfully cultivated a can do attitude among its pupils and staff that continues to secure support from many different sectors of the community.
Queensbury rules Manhattan
Queensbury School is a Yorkshire comprehensive of 1,150 pupils. Shari Baker profiles a recent entrepreneurial success
Queensbury School sits atop the hills midway between Halifax and Bradford, and is a long way from Manhattan. Although recently, the invention of a teddy bear chair took four teenagers from the school to the Big Apple to pitch their enterprising ideas to the online giant that is Google.
Case study: Birkdale School
Birkdale School, an independent day school in Sheffield with approximately 800 pupils, is a multi-award-winning, enterprising school. Shari Baker profiles its success
Birkdale’s website declares: “Most enterprising school environment in the country… winners of 10 national awards.” Quite a title to live up, but probably justifiable.
Manna from heaven
In challenging economic times, schools must do all they can to maximise their income stream. Sr Paula Thomas, headmistress of St Catherine’s School, Twickenham, tells Katie Cardona about the commercial initiatives her school has undertaken to create additional sources of income
Case study: Writhlington School
From growing award-winning orchids, to handing out 1,400 laptops, and completing several large-scale capital build projects, Writhlington School is a leader in enterprise. Shari Baker profiles this exciting school
The new Writhlington School in north-east Somerset has been funded through a £25 million award from the government's Building Schools for the Future scheme. It recently handed each of its 1,242 pupils a laptop to use in lessons and at home, with help from Government-backed charity e-Learning Foundation.
Gone with the wind
A school in Leeds has enjoyed ongoing success with funding for projects by linking technology to education. Shari Baker reports
Farsley Farfield School, near Leeds in West Yorkshire, is an award-winning, tech-savvy school of 393 pupils. What makes this school different is the balance it achieves between technology and eco-friendliness, woven together in an enterprising way by its headteacher, Peter Harris.
Case study: Haselor School
Enterprise can begin at school. There are many schools that are demonstrating this. Shari Baker reports
Haselor School near Alcester, Warwickshire, is a small village school of 83 pupils, with a refreshing approach to enterprise. Gill Humphriss, deputy head, believes that the key to success is in thinking beyond typical funds-driven approaches, instead focusing on making sustainability part of the school ethos. Not content with merely generating finance, the school has changed its entire approach to incorporate a sustainable aspect into each fundraising activity.
Gill believes that business can be a sustainable process too. “By taking small sustainable steps we can build up school resources, learning spaces and equipment, as well as embed the Sustainable Schools ethos in the minds of our children.”
Model school
A school in Cornwall has taken huge strides towards generating new sources of income
Andrew Dodd, the director of finance and corporate services at Camborne Science and Community College in Cornwall, has used what he describes as “a little bit of entrepreneurial flair” to turn many of the school’s expenses into commercially viable and income-generating enterprises.
Success story
A profile of a school that has shown true enterprise over several years
West Bridgford School in Nottingham is a fundraising success story with new state-of-the-art facilities being added to its site on virtually a yearly basis, from new sports pitches to a dance and fitness studio and a wind turbine. Headteacher, Rob McDonough, who took up his post in September 2005, says the key has been to make fundraising part of the school’s ethos.
Serving the community
One school took steps to secure its own future
Minsthorpe Community College was set up in the 1960s as a high school serving three West Yorkshire mining communities. However, when the pits closed in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was forced to re-evaluate at its role.
