What a fantastic week we all had during the Enterprise Challenge Week 2021.
5 of our local SEND Schools took part in this pilot programme for KS4 students with Special Educational Needs.
The week comprised of various challenges each day for the students to take part in. All activities were aimed at building on the students’ employability and enterprise skills to help them become work ready. We joined forces with Catcote Academy to create the resources and ensure the challenges and activities were suitable for the students taking part. We also teamed up with `Skills Builder` who very kindly volunteered their time and resources via their website and platform.
We had a special visit from PC Coggins from the Hartlepool Branch who spoke to the students about his role as a police officer and answered questions live on Teams across the 5 schools.
This visit started off the `Crime Scene Investigation day` where students were given a crime to investigate, they needed to listen and look for clues and decide who they thought the guilty party was. The day ended with a second visit from PC Coggins who did the big reveal! This was a fantastic day, our schools really got into the spirit of things, dressing up in their crime scene suits so as not to contaminate the evidence. They worked as a team, listened to other people’s points of view and stayed focused throughout.
The students particularly enjoyed the `Egg-Parachute` and `Moon base` Challenges as you can see from the photos. The students had to use their teamwork and communication skills during the egg parachute challenge, being creative by coming up with their initial idea and amending their designs if the egg didn’t survive the first attempt. Students said they had to stay positive during this challenge.
The `Moon base` challenge saw the students calling on all their creative skills and using their imagination to create their very own planet. They had to decide what buildings they would have, which animals to take and people. The students came up with some fantastic ideas and created some weird and wonderful new creatures that could assist them in different ways. They had some in-depth discussions about who they should take with them. Most groups decided on taking Sir David Attenborough to look after the planet and thought taking a top scientist and engineer would help too. Some real imagination went into this challenge, the students could really let their minds run wild with ideas and they really impressed us with their drawings and thought processes.
This is the first event of this kind we have facilitated with a collaboration across the SEND/SEMH schools. All schools were given a small budget to purchase materials they required.
Due to Covid, many of the schools have not been allowed to have visitors come to the school or go on external trips so this week really gave them the opportunity to meet new people and experience new things.
We utilised Teams to facilitate the week which worked fantastically well. We were able to bring students together from as far as Brotton to Hartlepool without them leaving their own school building. We were able to bring in PC Coggins to speak to all the students at the same time which he loved as he would not normally get the chance to meet students from other areas. Teams also allowed the teachers to upload photos and comments during the week, sharing best practice.
The week ended with a celebration day on the Friday where trophies were awarded for different categories such as Amazing Teamwork & Excellent Listening Skills. The schools all celebrated in different ways, some made cakes, some had pizza, and some had a disco, but one thing is for sure they all had lots of fun.
We feel the pilot with KS4 has worked so well, the feedback has been positive from staff and students that we hope to be able to run the Enterprise Challenge Week as an Annual Event.
Resources for career leaders and teaching staff from the week will be made available on the website.
