Friday, March 16, 2012
Beeston Express
Page 7
Community
Dragon’s Den
at John Clifford School
PUPILS aged between 7
and 11 years old showed
whether they’d got what it
takes to become successful
entrepreneurs in a fun
‘Dragon’s Den’ event at
John Clifford Junior school
recently.
As part of ‘Maths Week’
at the school, all of the
school’s Key Stage 2 pupils
took part in the interactive
Dragon’s Den-style exercise
to illustrate the basics of
how mathematics works in
commercial life and how
essential some knowledge
of working with numbers
will be if they are to become
achievers once their school
years are finished. They were
asked to design a pizza and
cost their product ready for
market.
The morning’s exercise
had been based on the
popular BBC TV show in
which people are looking for
investment cash to bring their
idea or product to market.
Entrants into the Dragons’
Den face six individuals,
successful entrepreneurs with
huge amounts of money to
invest in new or expanding
businesses. The entrants
‘pitch’ their product to the
Dragons – let’s assume it’s a
new idea for pizza – and are
either sent away with nothing,
or one or more of the Dragons
will invest.
Gimme a pizza
innovation!
Back at John Clifford, the
KS2 pupils were divided
into teams to spend the
morning designing a new
and innovative pizza before
presenting their pitch to
the group of Dragons,
representatives of large
companies with local bases,
assembled in the school hall.
Each of the six classes had
been allocated one of the
Dragons, who came from
Eon, Capital One, Domino’s
Pizza and Balfour Beatty to
give them some guidance
during the morning and to
choose one winning team
from each of the classes to go
through to the final.
The pizza was going
to need a new angle if
consumers were to be
persuaded that this particular
pizza was preferable to any
other pizza already on the
market. Once designed, it
would need pricing up for
the cost of ingredients – but
how? And what else ought
to be included in the cost
of a pizza? Production?
Packaging? Marketing? Do
these items have a cost and if
so, how are they added to the
cost of each pizza sold?
The teams also had to
decide if there might be
other costs involved in the
production of their new pizza
and if so, make sure they
were taken into account. Had
they remembered to ‘take a
cut’ for themselves and their
employees? Gross profit and
net profit margins figured
in their equations and the
children learnt how to add
everything together and return
to a cost per single pizza.
The young students
certainly enjoyed their maths
that morning!
Into the Dragons’ Den
The full contingent of
Dragons still had to be faced.
The six teams of would-be
entrepreneurs ‘pitched’ their
business plans for a new
pizza (sketched onto card),
with associated packaging
designed and marketing etc
all costed in – for the most
part. A couple of the teams
competing in the final arrived
in front of the Dragons
with plans to expand their
company all included in the
business plan.
The Dragons’ asked their
questions: one pizza had
a free gift included – had
the cost of a ‘free’ gift been
included in their pricing?
Another pizza had an ethnic
flavour. This group’s initial
market was Italy and Asian
countries – but one of the
Dragons wanted to know what
plans they had for expanding
the company. The group had
its business plan well thought
through. “We’ll be taking
our ‘Ethnic’ pizza worldwide
by using flavours from all
around the world once we’re
successful in our first markets
– and we’re offering each
of the Dragons a 10 percent
return on their investment!”
Each team gave a strong
pitch, the Dragons retired
to consult and finally, the
‘Maths’ pizza, with its topping
in the shape of numbers, was
declared overall winner.
A group of ecstatic
youngsters had won
themselves a trip to go iceskating donated by Capital
One and Domino’s Pizza
awarded a pizza prize to each
of the finalists.
Summing up
Dragon Mr John Bishop, a
Quality Manager at Mansell
Construction on Derby Road
(a Balfour Beatty company)
summed up the value of the
event.
“This morning’s exercise
has been all about teaching
the children how to apply
maths; that it’s not just
maths for maths’ sake, it’s
about how maths will solve
problems – and make ideas
become reality.”
Greening Beeston in The Square
FORTUNATELY the
weather was better than
forecast when Greening
Beeston and Broxtowe
Borough Council held
energy-saving advice stalls
in Beeston Square on
Saturday, March 3.
Visitors to the stalls
and the Fantastic Homes
caravan had the opportunity
to learn about ways to save
energy and money, ask for
advice and pick up free
water and energy-saving
devices.
They could also try out
the Watt bike, a device
which helps people
understand just how
much energy is needed to
power common household
electrical devices; for
example, the surprising
amount of pedalling
required to generate enough
power for a games console
– or even a toaster!
Greening Beeston
shared energy-saving tips
illustrated by the ‘star of
the show’ – an eco-dolls
house, equipped with solar
panels, a rainwater butt,
thick curtains to keep in the
warmth and a garden full of
vegetables. The Eco-Dolls
House had been carefully
made from recycled
materials with painstakingly
attention to detail by a
number of the volunteers.
Members of the Greening
group also asked local
people visiting the stalls in
The Square to help them
map who is composting,
growing their own fruit
and vegetables, recycling
rainwater, generating solar
power and other ‘green’
activities in the area. Local
residents who missed the
March 3 event will be
invited to add to this map
when it goes on display
again at Beeston Carnival in
July this year.
People were also
reminded of the facilities to
recycle Tetra Pak cartons
and aluminium foil at the
recycling centre in Beeston
Sainsbury’s car park, where
there is also a container for
the safe disposal of lowenergy light bulbs.
Greening Beeston
Later this year, the
Greening group will be
encouraging the residents
of central Beeston to make
at least five energy-saving
pledges which, when added
together, should make a
considerable impact on
local use of power and
water.
The ‘greening’ of central
Beeston is a continuation of
a similar campaign held in
Beeston Rylands in 2010,
when combined savings of
about 46,000 kg of CO2 and
67,000 litres of water were
made, in addition to £8,000
per year.
Seed Swap
On the same day as the
energy-saving advice
stalls were set up in The
Square, ABC LETS held
their annual Seed Swap at
Wollaton Road Methodist
Church.
This became a buzzing
hive of activity as visitors
swapped familiar and
not-so-familiar seeds, tips,
magazines and empty plant
pots.
By popular request, there
will be a Plant Swap held
in May or June this year,
so please get planting and
come along in late spring
to swap and share seedlings
and plants.
If you would like to
find out more about either
of these groups or get
involved, please visit their
websites: www.greeningi
nbeeston.weebly.com and
www.abclets.org.uk