Wirral schools join entrepreneurship competition

Oct 24 2012 by Tony McDonough, Heswall News

SEVEN Wirral schools are taking part in a competition encouraging entrepreneurship among young people.

The Wirral Schools Business Development Initiative, which is being supported by the Wirral News, sees each school loaned £500 of start-up capital to be used to put their business ideas into practice.

All the proceeds made will be shared between the participating schools and the charity which is backing the project – the Park Suites Foundation.

Park Suites is a 10-bed suite of private rooms at Arrowe Park Hospital. All the fees it charges are retained by the hospital for the benefit of all its patients, 98% of whom are treated through the NHS.

The schools taking part in the competition are Wirral Grammar School for Boys, St Anselm’s College, Calday Grange Grammar School, Birkenhead High School Academy, Ridgeway High School, South Wirral High School and Ellesmere Port Catholic High School.

They will each make their final presentations to the judges at a buffet reception at Hulme Hall, in Port Sunlight, on November 26.

Terry Smith, founder of Radio City and chairman of Park Suites Foundation, told the Wirral News: “We do not know too many details of the various projects – the teams are being very secretive about their plans and obviously do not know what their rivals are up to.

“The whole idea of seeing projects through from start to finish using sold teamwork and up-to-date business planning, development and financial control has been exactly right for areas which they recognise are becoming more and more important within the educational system.”

The teams from each school will be expected to demonstrate how they selected their projects, developed business plans, appoint project leaders, use technology to monitor progress and create working timetables.

See next week’s Wirral News for more details on how each school is progressing with their business ideas.