Thursfields Celebrates Success of Young Entrepreneurs

Lauren Hartigan-Pritchard, a solicitor at Thursfields, has judged this year’s Young Enterprise Scheme at Worcester Cathedral. Lauren is an accredited specialist in governance for the third sector and is responsible for Thursfields Education Sector offering.

Young Enterprise is the UK’s leading enterprise and financial education charity. Company Programme, its flagship learning experience is a live business scenario devised to equip young people with the knowledge and skills to succeed in life and work.

Company Programme starts at the beginning of the academic year when the students participating are required to form their own business. They nominate each other for appropriate roles within the company such as managing director for example. Sharing responsibilities it is then up to the management team to develop and manufacture a service or product and literally take it to market.

As part of the Young Enterprise Scheme students from schools and colleges around Worcestershire are invited to design and create products to sell on to the public at the Worcester Cathedral Christmas Fayre. The fayre is the student’s first opportunity to showcase their products to the general public. A range of products including jams and preserves, mobile phone accessories, woodwork products, coasters and light fittings were all on sale at the fayre.

Sue Adeney, Education Officer at Worcester Cathedral, said “Each year the Cathedral provides a platform for Young Enterprise to encounter the chalk face of the general public. Now in its 12th year the standard has risen beyond all expectation, which is a credit to the schools, their mentors and the students themselves.  We are delighted here at the cathedral to provide this initial opportunity and watch with interest how they develop over the year. Working alongside Thursfields this year has provided the students with essential feedback for that development”

This year the winning school, Prince Henry’s High School, impressed the public and Thursfields with their delicious range of jams and preserves made from locally sourced produce. Other favourites included St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic High School for their personalised chopping boards, Bromsgrove School for their recyclable cork products and Holy Trinity High School for their ingenious selfie stick for pets.

Lauren said “I was really impressed by how creative the students were in designing these products, many of which were made from recycled materials, and how much detail and thought had been put into their business plans. It gives me a huge sense of satisfaction to see students getting involved in business at such a young age and credit should go to Young Enterprise for making business relevant to the daily lives of young people.”

Thursfields work in partnership with many educational charities such as Worcester Cathedral and have also supported its program of events for the Magna Carta celebrations this year.

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