Member Article

Primary pupils impress in business challenge

Over 120 Primary School pupils took part in a special Dragons’ Den-style business challenge event this week at Mortimer Community College as part of their plans improve pupils transition from primary to secondary education.

Four schools from the Mortimer Community College Cluster: Laygate Primary; Mortimer Primary; Stanhope Primary; and Westoe Crown Primary; took part in the event which was the finale of the ‘Samson’s Shoes’ programme run by SAFC charity the Foundation of Light.

The six week programme guides pupils through basic principles involved in taking a product to market including pricing, promotion and marketing as they strive to develop new shoe ideas for Sunderland AFC mascot Samson.

Delivered in schools, the pupils worked in teams to produce a presentation that they performed in front of a panel of judges which included Ms. Claire Mullane Head Teacher at Mortimer Community College, Steve Liddle Transition Coordinator, and the other schools’ teachers and pupils.

Speaking about the event Ms. Mullane commented: “We were really impressed by the standard of presentations and it was clear that the pupils had put a lot of thought into the project.

“As well as developing skills and attitudes, we used Samson’s Shoes to help ease the transition into the College for pupils coming from the cluster Schools this September. After today pupils taking part in the programme will have met some of their future classmates and visited the college which will hopefully remove some of the fear.”

Chris Hooker Curriculum Lead for Education from the Foundation of Light added: “This is the first time we have used Samson’s Shoes to ease the transition period, Mortimer Community College have taken a really progressive approach to the pupils’ transition which hopefully will pay dividends in the first year of secondary school.

“All of the presentations were very creative, but what really impressed us was how every youngster showed the courage to stand up and present in front of the judges and over 120 pupils which is a massive achievement.”

Samson’s Shoes is part of the Foundation of Light’s portfolio of programmes for Primary Schools that are available across South Tyneside, Sunderland and County Durham.

For further information about the programmes on offer schools are advised to contact the Foundation of Light on 0191 5515191.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Burman .