Enterprising TIGHS pupils fund emergency accommodation for young homeless
July 2018
Budding entrepreneurs from TIGHS have raised over £3,000 for homeless charity Nightsafe through their Enterprise Week fundraising – the biggest donation the charity has ever received from a single school.
Year 10 pupils used our annual Enterprise Week to set up retail businesses that donated all profits to the Blackburn charity, which supports young people between the ages of 16 and 24 experiencing homelessness.
By setting up retail businesses, the pupils raised a staggering £3,264 to help Nightsafe fund a room for a whole year to provide emergency accommodation for those who need it.
10 teams of pupils competed against one another to raise the most money from an initial investment of £50.
At the start of our Enterprise Week, pupils received briefings in how to run a business, before planning team roles and writing job descriptions.
In order to inspire the pupils and spark ideas for their enterprises, a number of key business figures visited TIGHS to address the Year 10 pupils. These included Ilyas Munshi, Commercial Director of Euro Garages, and Ruth Rathmell of Truth Creative, whose words motivated pupils to create a vision for their enterprises and set themselves goals.
Each team then wrote business plans setting out how they would make their profits, and even had to pitch to a Dragons’ Den style panel to earn more investment.
Retail business ideas ranged from homemade bath bombs and stress relief balls, to canvas artworks and freshly baked waffles. Pupils ran stalls selling their wares on Friday 13 July to raise money to donate to Nightsafe.
At the end of Enterprise Week, pupils wrote company reports and presented to a panel made up of school staff together with Enterprise Advisor Kay Vaughan of Inspira.
Nazma Master, Head of Year 10, commented:
“Our Enterprise Week was an excellent experience for our students. The fundraising challenge coupled with inspirational speakers and meaningful lessons, such as the science behind the cosmetic industry and persuasive rhetoric, proved to be a winning formula for a very successful week.
“Our students particularly enjoyed working with real money and having the realisation that with a heap of determination and a sparkle of enthusiasm, wonders can be achieved.
“We are proud to have raised a large sum of money to donate to a very worthy charity.”
Year 10 pupil Aasiyah Thava commented:
“Big dreams start with small adventures and we believe that meeting all the entrepreneurs has led us to know that we can pursue our dreams too, no matter how big. Enterprise Week taught us essential workplace skills of confidence, teamwork and the art of persuasion.”
Jan Larkin, Chief Executive of Nightsafe, added:
“We are absolutely delighted that the girls at Tauheedul chose us as their charity. It’s great that some inspirational ideas have generated such a large amount of money. It sounds like everyone learnt a lot and had a lot of fun raising much needed funds for Nightsafe. Every penny raised will be spent to make a real difference to the lives of our young people.”
Added By: Tauheedul Girls | Date Added: 25th Jul 2018 | Posted In: Latest News