Preparing Your Students For Successful Futures


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Holly Gardner

Holly Gardner is TT Editor, as well as a Freelance Publisher. She has been working with @TeacherToolkit for over 6 years - since she published his first book in her role as Senior Commissioning Editor at Bloomsbury Publishing. Since then, she left her day job,...
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Are you preparing your students for life beyond education?

The Young Enterprise Company Programme empowers young people to set up and run a student company under the guidance of a business volunteer. Suitable for Key Stages 4 and 5, it can be run flexibly to suit your needs from 12 weeks up to one academic year.

Students make all the decisions, from deciding on a company name and product to managing the company finances and selling to the public at Young Enterprise trade fairs and on a dedicated online sales platform.

Essential life and career skills

Students will develop essential career and life skills including teamwork, resilience, problem solving and confidence. They will have the opportunity to hone their digital skills as they learn hands on about e-commerce and selling to the public. These digital skills are much sought after in the changing world of work. There is the opportunity to take part in local competitions and compete at regional and national level. They will battle it out to be crowned UK Company of the Year and to go on to the European Company Programme Final.

This career learning opportunity motivates students to consider a broader and more ambitious range of future education, career and life opportunities. 93% of teachers agreed that Company Programme increased student self-awareness in their own capabilities and potential and raised their career aspirations.

82% of students felt that taking part in Company Programme gave them the confidence to succeed in the future. One student who took part commented:

Company Programme has allowed me to be the true me at all times and that’s what I’ve loved about it. It allowed me to be the leader that I thought I was but never acted as. It allowed me to be able to pick up on my own strengths as well as those of others within the team. It has strengthened most of my weak skills. But most importantly the programme has shown me what it’s actually like in the real world of business having to deal with clients… Overall its been an amazing experience and I express enormous thanks to everyone that made it happen and certainly hope that I can do something in the future with Young Enterprise.

Making a difference

Company Programme supports schools and colleges to deliver an ambitious careers strategy and evidence the provision of good career guidance against the Gatsby Benchmarks.

  • It contributes to Estyn inspection judgements (Wales) on outcomes and provision including learning experiences.
  • It provides applied opportunities to support a wide range of business studies and applied business qualifications and provides a flexible engaging and experiential learning opportunity for students following an alternative curriculum which promotes independence skills and can be adapted for a range of settings.
  • Participation in Company Programme can be used to fulfil the skills element of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
  • Young Enterprise also offers Team Programmes for SEND students with mild to moderate learning difficulties.

To find out more please register your interest here.

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