ON OCTOBER 30, Year 8 pupils in Bishop Challoner School took on the national Enterprise Challenge, their task to create a mascot for Ryman’s stationery.

The winning team (Amber, Mohamed, Shannon and Quinn) created mascots Stanley and Sally. Listening to their project manager, they created an idea that was amusing and eye catching to both parents and children. They now go on to face schools from across the country, but all the students who took part enjoyed learning about delegating tasks, time management and team working to achieve a common goal.

I myself took part when in Year 8 and benefited from learning these important skills. But why choose year 8’s pupils? The inspirational learning group said that age 12-13 is when you start to challenge yourself and build on the skills you need after education as, “everything you learn now only prepares you for the next step.” Our school mission is to do ‘ordinary things, extraordinarily well’ and it was fantastic to hear that not just Year 8, but the whole school portrays that ethos to the outside perspective.

We were also lucky to meet Kayode Damali a contestant on The Apprentice 2018. He enthused about how his skills had developed in such an intense environment, learning from others to complete such varied but interesting tasks. This attitude was also reflected in the words of Liam Brookes (The Inspirational Learning Group) who said; give business a go; don’t sit around with an idea in mind, act on that idea.

By Cara McGrath