The school's Business Enterprise department have had the great pleasure to work on their first partnership project with Mile Cross Primary School and City College Norwich, in a Dragons’ Den competition. The Year 5 pupil Dragons’ Den competition saw Mile Cross pupils face real life business dragons, alongside Norwich School Sixth Form pupils.
60 year 5 pupils from Mile Cross and 23 Lower 6 Business Enterprise pupils from Norwich School, joined forces at the City College StartUp lounge for the first day of the event on 6th November. Teams of Year 5 pupils were assigned a L6 mentor and tasked with coming up with a business idea that would wow the dragons.
The project, jointly led by Nicola Hill (Assistant Head of Outreach) and Toby Whalen (Deputy Head at Mile Cross Primary), aimed to provide an engaging introduction into product design, marketing and finance. Ideas ranged from fitness parties to an automatic dog ball thrower, with pupils taking inspiration from their surroundings at the StartUp Lounge.
The project finale took place on Tuesday 27th November at Norwich School, with high profile dragons from Norwich’s business community, including Stefan Gurney and Miles Watson from Norwich Business Improvement District and Nova Fairbank from the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. Mile Cross Head Teacher Stuart Allen and Steffan Griffiths, Head Master of Norwich School, also took on the role of dragons. Teams pitched their ideas to win an 'investment' from the dragons.
The overall winning idea, 'Zombie Bears' caught the imaginations of the dragons, with their sophisticated marketing and branding ideas and their captivating pitch.
Both the Year 5 pupils and the L6 Business Enterprise pupils gained much from the partnership, and plans are already in place for the next Dragons’ Den, after the success of this inaugural event. Comments below, from our guests, highlight the significance of the partnership:
Stefan Gurney, Executive Director, Norwich Business Improvement District (BID).
“It was truly inspiring to see the next generation of Norwich entrepreneurs pitching their innovative business ideas to us. All of the teams created products with originality, strong business models and presented with passion and energy. It was a difficult decision to choose a winning pitch, but a huge congratulations to every one of the students who worked so hard and gave us such a tough choice. Norwich’s future is in safe hands.”
Miles Watson, Office and Business Support Manager for Norwich Business Improvement District (BID).
“As the lead on skills and education for Norwich BID, it was my pleasure to take part and offer support for the Dragon’s Den event at The Norwich School. The pitches were all well thought out, with good structure and excellent delivery. Many congratulations to the winning teams and thanks to all those who co-ordinated and supported the event”.
Nova Fairbank, Head of Policy, Governance & Public Affairs, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce
“The students pitching at today’s Dragon’s Den have done an amazing job. Their presentations were well thought out; their business cases were solid; and all teams presented enthusiastic and interesting pitches. The Dragons had a truly difficult decision to select the winning bid. The talent and energy in the room was brilliant and I think we may have seen several future entrepreneurs! Well done to all the teams.”
