In the 2021/22 academic year, the Foundation’s support enabled Young Enterprise to work with 15 schools (three primary, 12 secondary). We overachieved against our target and empowered 2,477 young people with critical soft skills and an enterprising mindset.
As a charity, we deliver a range of financial, enterprise and employability programmes, from day-long workshops through to year-long programmes, such as our immersive Company Programme – where young people devise and run their own trading company.
“Our team has gone through a journey together and has emerged with new skills which we will take with us from this experience. We’ve learnt to communicate positively, even when times are tough. We have learnt how to work efficiently together and to distribute the tasks fairly and to each one of our strengths.”
– Bishop Heber High School Company Programme participant
We also piloted a new programme, Innovation Studio, in three primary schools across our project geographies. This programme sees young people working in collaboration with the Westminster Foundation to help influence young people to make healthier eating choices.
Teachers are included in the delivery to help reinforce learning and observe skills demonstrated by the young people, such as communication, confidence, problem-solving and financial capability.
Before taking part in Young Enterprise’s programmes, only 61% of the young people participating said they could use their imagination to generate original ideas – while arguably 61% might not be considered low, this is a crucial skill in life that everyone should be able to call upon. We are determined to help all young people in this area, and post participation in YE programmes, 92% of young people agreed that they could now use their imagination in this way.
Across the year, we were proud to see young people develop a range of important skills, such as:
Furthermore, 92% of young people taking part in Secondary School programmes reported that after participation they felt able to reflect on what skills they needed to develop for the future. As many as 82% gained in confidence and 84% had a greater understanding of the world of work.
After the Innovation Studios workshops, 88% of 102 children at primary schools fed back that the programme helped them to learn about teamwork, with 63% saying participation helped them to prepare for secondary school.
Educators also fed back positively about our work with young people, for example: “Working with Young Enterprise has been a real pleasure. They adapted their delivery to meet our very niche needs. The programme materials were very professional, as was the delivery. I would recommend Young Enterprise they pitch things perfectly for your cohort and can offer an excellent variety of services. The mentoring that was arranged was so useful for the young person involved and very inspirational!” – Ancora House School, a medical pupil referral provision.
