Spent tonight organising resources for those running the tuck shop. We met and discussed matters today and so tonight, using Google drive I have placed relevant documents for part D (Running an Enterprise) in their folders so they can get the details written up. Their enthusiasm remains fantastic and they are keen to get started again but they are a bit more reluctant to write up the details. I know this because they told me!
They are doing everything right, keeping a tally of expenditure and income, trying to balance the books each week and just you try and take something without paying!
On a serious note they are trying to balance SEQ against a busy programme of school study, music lessons, rehearsals and everything else.
A great effort by all concerned.
Monday 15 September 2014
Monday 1 September 2014
Delivering SEQ at Aston Villa Football Club by Debbi Rawson, Aston Villa FC Social Enterprise Academy Coordinator
The past 10 months have been a fantastic journey, working with 7 different groups from 2 different schools on the Aston Villa Social Enterprise Academy. I met the young people back in October 2013, when they started to learn about businesses and the idea of a Social Enterprise. As young people do, they had many opinions about social and environmental issues that affect us every day, and were quite passionate about the issues they felt they would like to support. From there we looked at how we could develop a Social Enterprise to help these causes.
The start of our SEQ journey involved a fair amount of learning and evidencing, I didn’t want the students to see this as just another lesson in their school day so I needed something to inspire them. It was then that I took them out of the classroom and got them to see a real-life, successful Social Enterprise. We went on a visit to Frost and Snow bakery, a small café in Birmingham City Centre, which had started out as a small business selling cupcakes. Frost & Snow now have their own premises, adjacent to a homeless shelter which is ran by Midland Heart, and they train people that have been taken off the streets to work in their bakery and café. Seeing this gave the young people the inspiration they needed, they could clearly see how a small Social Enterprise business could help and support and how it could expand. It is definitely something I would advise to other mentors, I only wish I had more time to go and see different Social Enterprises as I think it would have been a great opportunity for the students!
Getting back to the classroom, I saw a spark in the students to get started on their planning for their businesses and the ideas started to flow. Staff from our marketing department came down to the schools to speak to them about marketing their businesses, which again set the students off which a range of ideas. The trading activities took place during May and June 2014, we had a range of business ideas, with smoothies, baked goods, fitness DVD, crushed ice drinks, world cup themed goods and clothing & jewellery, the students made their businesses successful and some are also looking to develop them further in the future.
Working within the football club was a fantastic advantage for the academy, we had a film crew, restaurant, marketing department and so much more on offer to use to support the students. One key piece of advice I would give is to work closely with partners, I was lucky to be working in such a big business, but if you don’t then link up with a business that you could use to support, it really does make such a difference and helps give the students something real they can relate to. Involving other people within the SEQ to speak to the students and taking the students on visits was also very beneficial. All of these things will help you (as mentor) and students along to delivering a successful, fun and engaging project!
Debbi Rawson – Aston Villa FC Social Enterprise Academy Coordinator
The start of our SEQ journey involved a fair amount of learning and evidencing, I didn’t want the students to see this as just another lesson in their school day so I needed something to inspire them. It was then that I took them out of the classroom and got them to see a real-life, successful Social Enterprise. We went on a visit to Frost and Snow bakery, a small café in Birmingham City Centre, which had started out as a small business selling cupcakes. Frost & Snow now have their own premises, adjacent to a homeless shelter which is ran by Midland Heart, and they train people that have been taken off the streets to work in their bakery and café. Seeing this gave the young people the inspiration they needed, they could clearly see how a small Social Enterprise business could help and support and how it could expand. It is definitely something I would advise to other mentors, I only wish I had more time to go and see different Social Enterprises as I think it would have been a great opportunity for the students!
Getting back to the classroom, I saw a spark in the students to get started on their planning for their businesses and the ideas started to flow. Staff from our marketing department came down to the schools to speak to them about marketing their businesses, which again set the students off which a range of ideas. The trading activities took place during May and June 2014, we had a range of business ideas, with smoothies, baked goods, fitness DVD, crushed ice drinks, world cup themed goods and clothing & jewellery, the students made their businesses successful and some are also looking to develop them further in the future.
Working within the football club was a fantastic advantage for the academy, we had a film crew, restaurant, marketing department and so much more on offer to use to support the students. One key piece of advice I would give is to work closely with partners, I was lucky to be working in such a big business, but if you don’t then link up with a business that you could use to support, it really does make such a difference and helps give the students something real they can relate to. Involving other people within the SEQ to speak to the students and taking the students on visits was also very beneficial. All of these things will help you (as mentor) and students along to delivering a successful, fun and engaging project!
Debbi Rawson – Aston Villa FC Social Enterprise Academy Coordinator
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