The Young Enterprise Scheme at Oxford High School, running here since 1989, is where girls in Year 12 set up and run a business for a year. They learn how to write Business Plans and Company Reports, producing, selling and marketing products in school and the wider world.
In the last 18 years at Oxford High School, there have been 34 Young Enterprise companies, involving 420 Sixth Form students, who between them have won 106 Young Enterprise awards at local, county, regional and national level. Of the last 15 Oxfordshire Finals’ winners, 13 have been from Oxford High School. Of these, six have gone on to win the South East competition, progressing to the national finals. In 2011, we came third nationally out of more than 2200 participating companies across the UK. They have been featured in articles in the Oxford Mail, Oxford Times, the Financial Times, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and the Guardian and on Central News and Reuters Television.
Throughout the last 18 years, all of the groups have been brilliantly mentored by Graham Varney, a local businessman. Graham was awarded the Young Enterprise South East Business Adviser of the Year in 2008 and the National Business Adviser of the Year in 2010. His advice and belief in setting no limits on the potential of our girls have enabled them to demonstrate their impressive business acumen. He was awarded a prestigious lifetime achievement award from Young Enterprise last year.
Groups have made pitches to a national board game company, several national supermarkets, negotiated deals in Indonesia, India and China, as well as in the UK, have held a meeting at the European Commission in Brussels and dealt with issues involving intellectual property, patents and exchange rate risk. They have pitched to national companies and sold internationally. They have even hired a real live owl to help with their marketing of their children’s book.
Our Young Enterprise students have written children’s books, a student guide to Oxford, a revision guide and a teenage survival guide. They have produced hand-drawn prints of Oxford, a CD of local bands, bat boxes, a revision aid box, diaries, wristbands and have developed a bar-code system for dealing with out-of-date food in supermarkets. One group designed an environmental board game, “Mission Earth”, the concept of which they have sold to Gibsons Games, who have produced 10,000 of them, available in leading shops. Another group has sold bracelets, another offered musically-based services and a third has designed leather and batik bags and have imported the finished products from India and Indonesia. A group produced highly innovative cookbooks with QR codes. They reformed their company to negotiate a deal with the Mid-Counties Co-Op to sell 8,000 copies in total. They also entered a separate national competition designed for graduates where they reached the national finals and won the audience vote for the best company. Students have designed epi-pen bags and also designed a 3D language learning game that they have been aiming to sell in China in Mandarin. Most recently they have produced coconut shell bowls, candles and hanging baskets and hoodies for the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
Many of the Young Enterprise students are participating in a GDST Diploma in Business Management and Leadership accredited by Buckingham University. This unique opportunity is only available to a handful of schools in the country, all of which are part of the GDST.
All of the girls have developed team work, public speaking skills and the confidence to take a risk. Many have gained employment in later life purely because of the scheme. Young Enterprise is just one of the many extra-curricular activities on offer in our flourishing Sixth Form.