Enterprise 22-23
Enterprise
In Years 7 and 8, Friday afternoons are our dedicated Enterprise time. In this time, we aim to offer pupils an exciting and stimulating range of experiences that will enhance their curriculum and support them to develop key “soft” skills. Our focus for Year 7 is on developing teamwork, oracy and resilience. In Year 8 we focus on leadership whilst continuing to improve oracy and resilience. Research has shown that pupils with better-developed soft skills have increased academic performance and improved overall outcomes at school. These skills are also desirable to employers and we hope that a focus on these will support our pupils in the transition to the next stage of their education and beyond.
Enterprise afternoons give pupils a greater degree of control over how to invest their efforts. This may manifest as a pitch, a performance or a presentation at the end of a project. As such, skills like negotiation, oracy and resilience are inherently part of the Enterprise experience. Group work is a Friday focus. There are great opportunities for pupils to engage in social skills and the freedom of smaller groups often help quiet or more introverted students to find a voice, developing their oracy skills. Additionally, students who may be resistant to a more formal teacher-led session, may feel a camaraderie when working in a group that keeps them on task and motivated.
While it is relatively easy to measure cognitive gains with testing, we (both staff and pupils) are now more able to reflect on our progress in the development of non-cognitive skills such resilience, team skills and aspects of oracy.
We continuously reflect on the experience offered to pupils and this year, in response to pupil feedback, we have included choice options for some of the half-termly units. In the “choice sessions” pupils will be offered a range of options such as photography, game design, textiles, running, cricket, Japanese and more in order that they receive an enriching experience suited to their own interests. These choice sessions still focus on the key soft skills and many involve local visits out of school. An outline of our programme of study for 22-23 is below, please be aware that placement of the units may vary due to staffing or new opportunities that are presented to us.
Careers education and Enterprise
As part of our careers programme, Enterprise sessions will draw on real life experiences where possible allowing pupils to see and appreciate a range of future career options. Our Respect, Restaurant, Tenner challenge units as well as some of the “choice options” include workplace visits and/or experiences as well as links to the world of work. As mentioned previously development of softer skills is an area of importance to employers and therefore the Enterprise sessions are a complimentary aspect of our overall careers aims.
During these sessions, we have worked with many local and national companies such as the British Millitary, Newcastle College and City Retreat Beauty Salon. If you are a businessperson or otherwise who would like to get involved with Enterprise sessions at our school, please do not hesitate to send an email to joseph.veitch@gosforthcent.newcastle.sch.uk.
Click here to hear a pupil podcast documenting their experience of Enterprise in the first half term of school:
See below for the outline of our Enterprise curriculum for Y7 & 8 and our whole school Careers Program:
24 25 long term plan enterprise careers for website.pptx
Optional Homework
For information on our careers programme click here
For information on Oracy click here