Enterprise update

This year the Lower Sixth students’ opportunities for enterprise will see them participate in the Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge, which is organised and run by the Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service (CCVS). This is a challenge that was set up eight years ago in Hertfordshire and has now come to Cambridgeshire for the first time. A team from St Mary’s School, Cambridge will be competing against two other teams – from St Ivo School, St Ives – as well as the other teams in Hertfordshire. This is a great opportunity for our girls to pioneer this new challenge and to shape its structure for the future. The aim of the challenge is to set up and run a company over the next six months. They will receive £100 seed capital and the aim is to make at least £1000 for a charity. Each team is given a local charity to support, that provides a lot of benefits to the local community, and for whom any money raised will have a big impact. They will be supported in school but also by a business mentor and a representative from the charity.

On the evening of Thursday 3 November Mrs Elin Egger and Miss Raj Kaur took four Lower Sixth students to the Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge Launch Event, at the YMCA in Cambridge (there are seven team members in total). It was an excellent event, where the students were introduced to the demands of the challenge. There were brief speeches by the Dragons’ Apprentice Founder, the Dragons’ Apprentice Schools Coordinator and the Mayors of Cambridge and St Ives, who were there to introduce the teams and to offer their support in any capacity possible. At the event the girls were introduced to their business mentor, who is from Deloitte, and their sponsored charity, which is Blue Smile. Blue Smile is a local children's charity providing skilled therapy and mentoring in schools to help troubled children learn and thrive. The girls were then given time with their business mentor and charity supporter to discuss their initial business ideas and talk about any problems they may face.

We hope to organise for the girls to have some of their meetings at their mentors’ offices as this will be a great experience for them in the corporate world! Working with a charity also gives them the opportunity to sell their products at some of the charity’s fundraising events. It will prove to be an exciting and highly rewarding challenge for the team.