Maple school (St Albans) year 6 graduate as mini dragons

Maple school year 6 graduate as mini dragons

Maple School has instigated an innovative enterprise education programme where year 5 and 6 pupils benefit from a day a term of learning on enterprise. The programme, run by us, uses games and exercises to teach children life skills around business, money and social enterprise.

This week year 6 pupils staged a business fair where businesses that they had come up with, sold their wares to the rest of the school and parents. The businesses they had varied from enterprises selling popcorn, greetings cards, fake tattoos, cot mobiles, juices and ice cream floats. The profits they made went to fund a commemorative autograph book for each member of year 6 and to the PTA fundraising campaign for new computers for the school.
The fair was followed by a presentation where Maple school year 6 graduate as mini dragons

This approach has been particularly successful because it represents a consistent and consolidated learning rather than a one off event. One of the children said, “I’ve learnt that business is fun” another said “money is important and I need to take care of it and save it”, perhaps a valuable lesson for all in the wake of the credit crunch! Who knows maybe the next generation of junior apprentices or Dragons Den entrepreneurs will come from Maple School!
he teams presented their business results and the learning they had derived from the 2 year programme. A judging panel of local business people then awarded prizes and “business graduation” certificates to all.

Post by Donna Cranny - 18th June 2009

Growing the next Apprentices

News Release: Eureka Schools - June 2009

Growing the next Apprentices

Eureka Schools is a business of which Sir Alan Sugar (soon to be the Government’s new Business Tsar) would surely approve!

Based in St Albans, The Eureka Schools programmes offer, fun and interactive workshops that teach children from as young as 9 up to 16 years old the essential financial and business skills needed to survive in today’s competitive world of business.

As with the BBC Apprentice programme, the pupils learn through interactive activities. They explore the origins of trade and business, learn the importance of research and grasp the concept of supply and demand. Pupils also identify their own enterprise skills, consider the benefits of competition in the marketplace and explore the moral dilemmas that businesses face. These engaging lessons allow students to develop life-long personal, social and enterprising skills and attitudes.

Donna Cranny of Eureka Schools says “A Eureka Schools workshop certainly isn’t as gruelling as the 12 weeks that Kate and Yasmina had to endure to reach the final. But the lessons we teach during a Eureka Schools workshop certainly have similarities to those learnt by the Apprentices!”

During the 12 weeks Sir Alan’s apprentices washed cars, chose new products to sell to retailers, sold skeletons to strangers in pubs - and who can forget the creation of Pants Man! At every step along the way candidates failed to grasp the essential nature of the task and heard the immortal words ‘you’re fired’.

Donna Cranny says ‘At Eureka Schools we certainly don’t fire the pupils! Instead we give them the skills and confidence that they can then build on so that one day they will be the one that hears the words ‘You’re Hired”

And now Sir Alan is adding a search for a young apprentice and the programme makers are currently seeking apprentices aged between 16-17 years.

We will have to wait and see if any of Sir Alan’s chosen candidates have the benefit of Eureka’s training!

Eureka is a dynamic training company specialising in delivering tailor-made training courses for primary and secondary schools in financial literacy, enterprise capability and entrepreneurship education.

Their specialised programmes include:

Youth Programmes delivered through in-school classes, workshops, courses and customised programmes that offer participants exciting and engaging activities. These programmes are designed to develop personal finance, investing, entrepreneurial, business and life skills within students of all ages.

Developing life-skills is integral to the programme delivery. All programmes teach practical skills in managing money and preparing young people for jobs. In addition, they raise students' self esteem, confidence, problem-solving ability, motivation and communication skills through challenging games and activities, teamwork and goal setting.

A day in the life of Donna Cranny.......of Eureka Schools

A day in the life of Donna Cranny, Business Manager of Eureka Schools ............

HT (Headteacher) ; we’ve had a bad ofsted on enterprise , unfair on teachers no time etc how can you help ?

DC:- well firstly let me just say that we can certainly offer Enterprise, business and life skill programs and a range of activities to fulfil your requirements, but also deliver them for you! No burden for you allowing you and your teachers more time......Our trainers and our people have a wealth of business and education experience to share!!!.

HT:- what age groups do you work with ?


We start from as early as year 5 (aged 10) primary school level all the way through to age 16 and in fact we now offer ‘youth interview Coaching’ too, which is other string to our bow!!! We feel it’s important to start these all important life skills as early as possible!


HT:- won’t the kids be bored by biz ?

Gosh NO!!...they are living and breathing it as we sit here......The Apprentice, Dragons Den, The Speaker......we can build on what’s all around them and put it into practice in their working / school environment!


HT:- how do you make it interesting?


Always fun, interactive, and game based...to give you an example of this....price is right – one of our modules is where we get the children to consider which is the most expensive - house, diamond ring, holiday or car......interesting enough they often say (especially the girls) the diamond ring, as not many people have one of these!!! Another example of this is when we ask each group to ‘get creative’ and propose via a presentation their Business Ideas to a panel in a competitive way!!!

HT: - you say you do financial education too, but we don’t want to turn them all into grasping bankers


Well I think there is so much press about bankers, credit crunch, but do they really know what it’s all about!! We help and teach them about all the different aspect of money and how it impacts on them and their world, mortgage, credit card, loan, interest rates! There is so much available but no teaching available!!! ....example £200 budget/board game - life decisions...Nike trainers v’s House Brand, Saving or Investments!!

HT:- sounds good but I’m not sure a 1 off workshop will make much difference I agree we at

Eureka could work in partnership with you to mould a consistent message to be woven into school life. To give an example, some schools we work with have one day per term with additional sessions / activities built into their school timetable so there is a consist theme throughout the school year.

HT:-Does it costs a fortune?


No it’s great value for money, considering what you get - valuable input, resources, content and our wonderful experienced people and some schools have found if budgets are a challenge, they can ask their PTA for support!

HT: - so is it just Biz/ finance training?

No we offer a wide range of programs / activities to support young people ....recently we have just initiated a new program called The Speaker Program, as I mentioned earlier...we also offer young interview coaching - our aim is to offer a well rounded approach to Life Skills to support the next generation of dragons!!!