Developing Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is central to everything we do - through academic lessons, sports, enrichment activities and our rewards system. We believe developing an entrepreneurial mindset will build the confidence students need to succeed and live a productive and fulfilling life.
To develop this mindset we focus on the following key attributes or "enterprising skills":
Entrepreneurship is embedded across all we do. We praise our students when they have utilised any of these attributes in their everyday life in the Academy, awarding our students with certificates and points to go towards our BACA House System. We believe that by developing an entrepreneurial mindset we will build the confidence you need to succeed and live a productive and fulfilling life.
We hold three whole school Enterprise Days each year, with a range of different activities across all year groups which focus on building the students’ enterprising skills.
From mock job interviews and business simulation activities to immersion days focused on art, healthy living or urban regeneration, the activities are designed to help students strengthen their core attributes, find new interests and build their confidence.
At our November Enterprise business studies students that meant pitching their ideas and plans to panels of local employers, including Metro Bank, Yomdel, the Bevy, Southern Water and the universities.
Rhys Williams presented his business idea Sweet Bay, a pre-Christmas pop-up selling sweets, cakes, pastries and snacks to fellow students. As well as presenting his market research and profit forecast Rhys outlined his advertising plans to the panel using posters and the academy's student bulletin.
After the pitch Rhys said: "When I went in I had lots of adrenalin but I focused on getting good eye contact with the panel and getting my ideas across."
"I want to study business at college and take a Business Management and Economics degree at university, so doing this was good preparation for what I'll have to do on those courses."
The panel was full of praise for Rhys' presentation, feeding back to him: "That was a really good presentation. We really liked your ideas and use of graphics."
Iain Chambers, Community Projects Manager of The Bevy Pub said: "I really enjoyed being on the Dragons Den panel and listening to the pitches from Year 11 students. There were some great ideas delivered with real enthusiasm and personality. Challenges like this are great for developing confidence and the business students rose to the occasion."
Tim Breden, Chief Operating Officer of local customer service expert Yomdel added: "The students at BACA had clearly given their projects thought and had already conducted considerable research. The school, staff and students should be rightly proud of the outcomes and we look forward to working with them again in the near future.”
You can read more about our students' experiences on recent Enterprise Days on our news links here:
Enterprising Year 11s impress local businesses