Preston School Case Study
- Embedding Business & Enterprise
Focus and Aims
The focus for this case study is embedding enterprise within Preston School. The
challenge is to provide opportunities for students to be able to develop key enterprise
skills not just through participation in ‘stand-alone’ enterprise activities but also
through longer term projects embedded within the curriculum.
The main aims are as follows:
 Embed enterprise within curriculum areas
 Develop enterprise experiences across whole year groups
 Establish and maintain long term links with local businesses
 Introduce and maintain enterprise accreditation systems
Background Context
Since securing our specialism status as a Business and Enterprise School we have
worked at developing and sharing best practice through our active partnerships with
local and regional businesses. This, along with a variety of successful business
education projects have had a positive impact on the student attainment in the
specialism subjects and was recognized in our last Ofsted Report.
The real challenge now is to maintain this success and business education ethos
although the specialism programme and subsequent funding is no more. This case
study briefly highlights some of the successful enterprise initiatives which we have
continued to develop and which have impacted positively on our students
Business and Enterprise Initiatives
Enterprise education is about giving students opportunities to develop enterprise
skills within and outside of lessons. We have staged some very successful ‘collapsed
timetable days’ which have strong enterprise focus. The school is organised into four
‘Schools of Learning’ (very similar to a faculty structure) and each School of Learning
(SOL) is responsible for developing six themed days which embed enterprise into
their particular curricular areas. As Head of School for Business and Enterprise
(Maths, ICT, Business Studies) I have had responsibility for introducing a variety of
initiatives which include:
 Dragons Den – One term project for Year 8 which takes place in ICT lessons
and culminates in Dragons Den competition during our SOL Day.
 Industry SOL Day – 25-30 local businesses and colleges provide workshops
for Yr 9 students
 Yr 7 Maths in business days – this takes place in the Fleet Air Arm Museum
and students are set a variety of Maths and enterprise challenges
Apart from our SOL Day programme, we also continue to embrace Global
Entrepreneurship Week where we provide students with enterprise opportunities
ranging from Business Speed Dating to asking students to plan a ‘War Time Tea
Party’ for local residents - the challenge is presented to Year 9 at the start of the day
and involves the whole year group planning and hosting a two hour programme of
music, sketches, food, decorations to an audience of over 50 elderly guests from
local care homes.
These events have proved to be really successful over time and have allowed
students plenty of opportunities to develop their enterprise skills but there is a danger
in that students could see enterprise as a separate set of skills set apart from their
‘curriculum skills’ This is why it is vital to embed enterprise across all areas of the
student experience. Below are a series of schemes which demonstrates this.

The PresEnts (Preston Enterprise Skills) enterprise scheme for Year 7&8
students. This involves teachers and students identifying enterprising
activities inside and out of lessons with students then seeking accreditation for
displaying enterprise skills in the form of a badge system. This has resulted in
students gaining in confidence and skills sought after in the world of work.
(Appendix A – excerpt from Student Planner)

The Enterprise Passport which is completed by KS4 students with the
purpose of referring to in employment and further education interviews. This
has proved to be a really effective tool for students to demonstrate their
experiences of enterprise and works well with individuals who might not have
excelled in academic subjects.

The Edge (PixL) Enterprise programme (Yr 9). Similar to the Presents, but
focusses on students completing Apprenticeships through claiming Enterprise
Attributes through a web based interface. Students provide evidence and
complete evaluations for demonstrating these attributes both in and out of
school. Examples range from teaching part of a lesson to helping local elderly
residents with their shopping!
Outcomes
The difficulty with initiatives which are focussed around developing skills is that it is
very difficult to measure the success of their impact. There are however several
KPI’s which can be used through our work with our accreditation systems.
In terms of occur Presents schemes we introduced the scheme four years ago and
the number of students achieving Bronze Level within Year 7 has increased from
20% in our first year to just over 55% in our fourth year. Our Enterprise passports
have been commented on by numerous college providers and local industry and we
have shared this work with the SSAT. In 2012 we were awarded with The National
Standard for Enterprise Education (NSEE) from Warwick University and have
subsequently shared good practice with schools in the South West.
We are acting as a pilot school the ‘The Edge’ programme so it is very difficult to
measure success but at present we have all our Yr 9’s working towards achieving
their Apprentice Award by the end of 2015.
As mentioned previously our enterprise work was recognized in our 2012 inspection
and I have included the following quote:
“The contribution made by the academy’s specialist work to students’ enterprise
capabilities, creativity, innovation and cross-cultural literacy through the international
dimension is particularly strong”. OFSTED 2012
Reflections and Next Steps
We have been very happy in the progress we have made so far in embedding
enterprise but there are still lessons to be learnt and more to be done. One of the
biggest challenges I have found is how to measure how well enterprise skills are
mapped in lessons. Some lessons I have observed have the potential for enterprise
skills to be demonstrated by students but often due to the constraints of ever
expanding curriculum content, this means that these opportunities pass. This is not
true of course in a lot of subjects but it is very difficult to successfully embed
enterprise across all subjects. The other challenges lie in the fact that the
accreditation systems take time to administer so because of this we have recently
invested in more time for an enterprise coordinator to oversee the completion rates
of The Edge.
In conclusion, I feel that these projects and initiatives are making a difference to our
young people and provides our students with a portfolio of robust enterprise skills.
This then gives them a chance to get ‘their foot in the door’ to those all-important
interviews by providing employers with the evidence of those “soft skills" highly
sought after in an ever changing world of work.
Appendix A – Excerpt from Student Planner
Enterprise @ Preston
Facts:
•
•
•
•
We’re living in a competitive world
Estimates are that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs by the age of 38
1 in 4 workers today are working for a company they have been
employed by for less than one year
Everyone has to DO EDUCATION, but not everyone can show that they
are ENTERPRISING
Collect your PresEntS by recording
these on your tracker in your planner
Complete your ‘Passport’ and
take it to interviews
Use U-explore to find out more
about careers:
www.u-xplore.com
Registration Code: 63463
Check out the Moodle Page in
‘Extra Curricular’ – This will give
you links to these Enterprise
tools
PRESton ENTerprise Skills
(PresEntS)
There are 2 easy steps to achieving your PRESENTS Awards:
Step 1
Ask your teachers to sign off each time you feel you have achieved a ‘PRESENT’ in
a lesson / SOL Day / enterprise event.
Step 2
Find a member of SLT or Mr Kendall and have a ‘Learning Conversation’ with them
to describe how you think you have achieved your Bronze, Silver or Gold Award.
BRONZE AWARD – Gain a total of 10 PRESENTS from any Schools of
Learning
SILVER AWARD – Gain all 17 PRESENTS in any 1 School of Learning OR in
Whole School
GOLD AWARD – Gain all 17 PRESENTS in ALL Schools of Learning. (This
does not need to include Whole School as well)
PresEntS Tracker
4Rs
Enterprise Capabilities:
B&E
CE
I&I
GU
WHOLE
SCHOOL
BRONZE/ SILVER/GOLD PRESENTS
Resourcefulness

The ability to adapt
to change

Making decisions

Using Initiative

demonstrate a
financial, economic
and business
understanding
Generating ideas
and innovating

Reflectiveness

Managing money
and resources

Taking calculated
risks

Show a willingness
to respond to
advice
set targets and
goals

Reciprocity

analyse and
evaluate

The ability to
communicate
clearly
demonstrate good
leadership qualities



Resilience



Be able to negotiate
and compromise
where appropriate
work well in a team
able to demonstrate
problem solving
skills
demonstrate good
planning and
organising
capabilities
persevere with
challenging tasks