Inaugural Enterprising Futures Conference inspires Third Formers

Friday 29^th April saw our inaugural ‘Enterprising Futures Conference’ for our third formers.

Since the event, feedback from the activity has been overwhelmingly positive and four of our attendees took the time to record their reflections.

Violet (EDH):

To start the day, I, along with nine others, decided to volunteer to meet and greet our guest speakers. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to get to know our guests better and have an early cognisance of their businesses and workshops. This, as suspected, was a rewarding experience. The niceties of all the speakers, but also combined with their willingness to share intellect assured me that the rest of the day would be exceptional.

Seren (MSH):

The main talk was presented by Olly Kohn who had an extremely inspiring story. Olly owns the business the Jolly Hog, he is also an ex-professional rugby player. He spoke to us about the rocky but amazing rollercoaster life is when starting your own business. For me, his talk proved to us that anything is possible even when you’re at your lowest. One thing that will stick with me is thinking about having the ‘other pots bubbling away in the background’, basically meaning always have a backup plan if the first one doesn’t work out. I admire Olly’s hard work - especially when their factory had a huge fire before coming to this school, it proves to us that he has determination and confidence in what he can and will do!

Cordelia (MSH):

After watching Olly’s speech all of the 3^rd form went to their workshops. My first workshop was ‘Founders mentality’ with Charlie Thurstan. Charlie used true stories to teach us some fundamental lessons which he wished he knew about when he younger, his workshop really showed everyone a different way to look at things and that hard work is much more important than talent. My next workshop was with Kay Heald and we did a teamwork challenge, in this workshop we were put into groups and had to, together, find a way to build the tallest tower only using paper and tape. This workshop clearly showed to me that teamwork is extremely important, and you would not be able to do nearly as much without your team. I found both of my workshops very useful and they taught me lots of life lessons that I will use in the future.

Beatrice (Grove):

At the end of the workshops, we all headed back to the theatre for a Q and A session with all the guests. This gave us a chance to put forward questions we had come up with in tutor period a few days prior, or to ask questions we had come up with throughout the day, which I enjoyed as it gave me a chance to hear from all of the guests, not just those who had led the workshops I had attended. Overall, I found the conference informative and interesting and made me think about the different aspects of owning and creating a business. I think it has definitely made an impact on how I view owning a business and the ups and downs of it.

We are planning to run the conference again next year with an increased number of workshops available for pupils and to invite local schools. Here is a programme from this year's event to give an insight into the day. If you would be interested in taking part in this event, which will also offer excellent business networking opportunities, I would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact me via [email protected]

Thanks again to all of our incredible guests. Floreat Salopia!

Chris Wain
Head of Futures