After months of preparation, the Regional Finals have arrived. Having been up since the crack of dawn, the Phonic Farm students were all very excited to finally be on route to the Met Office in Exeter for the South West Regional Finals of the Young Enterprise company programme competition. With the mini bus already packed and a lot of tea prepared, the students started their journey down the M5. It however wasn’t a calm journey as excitement was hitting and they had some final presentation practice to do. Unfortunately, as Billy was unwell earlier in the week, the team decided to put Max in his place for the presentation. With this being decided on Tuesday, Max was truly thrown in at the deep end. With this sudden change, as you can imagine a lot of practicing took place on route. It was however a very productive journey with a lot of confidence being built and excitement levels being raised. After almost 2 hours of travelling, the students arrived! It was now a matter of unloading all the stand equipment from the mini bus and taking it to where they could set up. With the amount of stuff they had, it took them a little while! Once the bus was emptied, the students could start putting together their stand. As they have done this so many times before, it was a quick and seamless process. They were completely set up and ready within 20 minutes of arrival. It was then a chance for them to relax and have a sneaky look at all the other teams that were competing. Before they knew it, the briefing started. All the students were gathered together and given a brief explanation of what was taking place throughout the day before being given their timetable of events. The first item on their agenda was the company interview. They had 15 minutes to get themselves psyched up before being called in to meet the judges. Billy, Lily and Tom went into the interview, whilst the remaining 5 students manned the stand. After 20 minutes, they returned to the stand absolutely delighted with how well they felt it went. This motivation was exactly what the team needed! Soon after, the students were approached by the trade stand judges. It was a full 15 minutes of questions, but the students handled themselves very well. All the comments they received were very positive and the judges seemed truly engaged with the product and idea. The particularly liked the new product ranges that were produced in French, German and Spanish. It was going well so far, just the presentation to go! Luckily as part of their schedule, the teams were given 15 minutes to practice on the stage, work out microphones and when to click their slides. This could not have come at a better time. After a minor critique from some of the board members, the team took away what they needed to work on and were committed to make their presentation the best it could possibly be. It was then time for lunch, so I spent this with Max, Lily and Tom doing some last-minute practicing. In a blink of an eye, the teams were being led into the conference room to start presenting. Phonic Farm were third, so they had some time to review the competition before getting up there. Their moment to shine arrived and the nerves finally hit! The presentation was confident, well-projected and creative. Even though there were a few stumbles, they did everyone proud.
It was then just a waiting game as the judges retired to make their decision. After a full-on deliberation, the judges returned, and it was time for the awards to be presented and the winner to be announced. There were over 15 awards to be given out, so it lasted some time but the spread of winners across the 8 teams varied. Phonic Farm were highly commended for their creativity throughout the awards process but unfortunately were the only team to not take home a trophy. SOWBooks from Devon were announced as the winners. It was clear after their well-timed and confident presentation that they would be the ones taking the crown and progressing to London. The student company produces stories which follow Peter the Puffin on his mission to save the world. This maybe the end of the road for Phonic Farm with regards to the competition, but it is now time for them to move on and spread the word about their product and sell their remaining stock. It has been a rollercoaster ride, but I could not be prouder of these students. They have developed dramatically since I first met them in September and are now confident business men and women who can take on anything and be successful. I am delighted to have been involved in this journey with them, you have done me and everyone around you proud. In my first year as a Business Advisor, I couldn't have asked for a better group of students to go through this process with. You are all stars! Nicole Crompton, Marketing Manager at Dunkley’s Chartered Accountants https://www.dunkleys.accountants/blog-post/phonic-farm-did-everyone-proud-regional-finals
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With just over a week to go before Phonic Farm head to Exeter for the Young Enterprise Regional Finals final preparations are well underway.
Even though the students are busy revising for their mock examinations, a 2-hour meeting took place yesterday to ensure all aspects of the competition were covered and allocated to the team. Billy chaired the meeting and started by revisiting what was assigned of each Director over the half term break. First on the agenda was the company report. As this needs to be submitted to the Regional board on Wednesday, it was vital that the comments Hannah, Lily and James made during half term were discussed and approved. The students ran over the comments they made and explained to the board of Directors where they had updated sections or added new content in. It was clear how far the students had progressed since the Area Finals as they had so much new content to include such as their partnership with Western Power Distribution and interest from Asdan, a local literacy charity and the National Literacy Trust. Once all the students outlined their amendments, the three of them sat down to combine their thoughts together and produce the final report. The 4-minute presentation was the second point on the agenda. Mark, from Brand 51 who came in to do a workshop on branding for the students a matter of weeks ago, kindly agreed to brand their PowerPoint slides ahead of the finals however required content to do that. This reminder lead Billy and Max to highlight the work they had done over the break on literary statistics and research. With this new data found, Billy asked Max, James and Joe to revise the presentation by including this research and build upon the key points in the presentation they did at the Area Finals enabling a slick, up to date pitch. This then left Billy, Tom and Lily to produce the script. As they had the bones of the script they produced for the finals writing the content was easy. During the meeting, they sat down to create a strong pitch. This pitch built upon the presentation they gave at the Area Finals, the feedback they received, incorporated the new research and included a range of customer comments from all 4 trade fairs showing their development and success. It was a very productive meeting and provided they were on the right track. As the presentation was complete, Mark from Brand 51 has been given the task to design it and with the report finalised, Billy is doing the final proof read before submitting. As all these elements are ready, Phonic Farm will easily meet the deadlines set by the Regional Board. It is then just down to them to practice the pitch and make it top quality in order for them to do the best they can at the finals on Wednesday. I wish them all the luck in the world and am delighted to be going with them to Exeter, so watch this space for continued updates on the day and hopefully another win for the West of England and Phonic Farm! As the Regional Finals are little under a month away, the team have a lot of work ahead of them.
After their success at the Area Finals, Mark from Brand 51 who was a Business Advisor for the St Bede’s team Evoke kindly offered to come and see the students for a review of their branding and how he can help them to develop it. As an additional bonus to this, he invited his professional contact Richard from Three Cherries to help the students work on their presentation and sales skills. This was the week they kindly offered to attend one of the team’s meetings and add their input. The team were very excited to have an external perspective on their product, promotion and presentation. Richard kick started the session being quite abrupt and asking the students if they wanted to win the competition. Only a few of them raised their hands, I think the confidence level still lacked slightly. Little to their knowledge, this was soon going to change! Richard then took this and started saying to them, if they continue to lack in confidence they will not succeed, this hard truth really hit home with the students. From that moment on their ears pricked up and their full attention was on what he had to say. They are all determined to win and with this support they might just do it. Richard then asked the 3 students who presented at the Area Finals to replay their pitch to him. Billy, Lily and Tom stood up and reeled off what they could remember. It was clear even to me that this retake wasn’t that confident or slick. This was where Richard’s expertise’s were so valuable. He started to critique each of the student’s posture and eloquence. He was very impressed with the quality of what they were saying but not with the way they came across. He therefore started to look at how they can present themselves to an audience through posture, hand positioning, head movements, voice projection and speech. It was remarkable to see how the students developed after an hour of work. They have learnt so much and taken away a vast amount. Moving forward, I think practicing their script and presentation skills will be incorporated into every meeting. It was also interesting to hear Richard say that they all needed to be as slick as each other when it comes to presenting as it anything happened with the 3 who are set to present, someone would have to step in. I don’t think this registered with several the students before this was stated and has shown they have a lot of work ahead of them. Once Richard had finished his session, it was time for Mark to work with the team. Mark started by asking the team what branding and marketing they have so far. This consisted of 2 pull up banners, a website and some handmade business cards. For them to excel in the finals, Mark knew they needed more to presented as professional and business like. With this said, he suggested that he helps them to develop a strategy moving forward ranging from of a plan for the website, business cards and a 4-page leaflet. For Mark to help them, they needed to get some copy written and the assets sent over to him. This was a big task for Hannah to take on as Marketing Manager and Lily to assist with as the amazing copywriter she is! All this branding work alongside the presentation skills they learnt over the course of the meeting has really knocked the team into shape and has shown that they need to be putting in a large amount of effort both inside and outside of school. This is a big learning curve for them all, I just hope they use it to their advantage and excel with the tools and resources they have been given. I will keep you updated as only time will tell. With the Regional finals in sight, the team were back at work today with an impromptu meeting due to the Bank Holiday.
Following on from last week’s productive meeting, Billy started the meeting reviewing the actions which were given out. He started by asking if anyone had done sponsorship research. Max had been working very hard and spoke to the team about his connections with Western Power Distribution (WPD). Due to this link, he had managed to get them to donate £ for branding, printing and travel purposes. What an achievement! This is exactly the boost they need to step up their game with regards to marketing, promotions and appearance. The company are also in discussions with a two other companies regarding sponsorship and potential product collaboration. This is all very exciting, and it will be great to see how this moves forwards. Billy and the rest of the team have a lot of work ahead. The next action being revisited was the idea of producing a 5th story based on their Young Enterprise journey. Hannah and Lily have been developing ideas for this story and are in the process of writing a draft outline ahead of the meeting on Monday. Whilst this was being discussed, Tom, the Finance Director came up with another idea. He put forward the concept of producing further recipe cards but in foreign languages with the aim of teaching children how to read languages such as French in a fun and creative way, with the addition of Phonics where possible. His idea was an instant hit! Ideas started flying around the room from Penelope the Pigs adventures in Paris to Sophie the Snakes stroll to Seville. When discussing ideas, the students began to think how they could link this to a school’s curriculum and therefore went down the route of French, Spanish and German as those are the 3 most widely taught languages in UK schools. This idea has a lot of potential, but it is now about seeing it through to the end. Hannah and Lily along with producing the 5th story based on their journey, have now been tasked to produce a further 3 concepts before Mondays meeting. They decided to split the 4 stories between them to make it more manageable. It will be great to see what they come up with. After all the idea generation, the discussions moved onto our social media platforms and Tom, the Digital Directors plan to create a video campaign. His idea consists of making a video like the ones Haribo make where the adults do childlike things and are voiced over by children. His basic plan of action was discussed, and ideas started to fly. With all these ideas, he is going to get a script and full concept ready to present at the Monday meeting. As well as organising this video, Tom has been asked to produce a social media strategy with regular updates posted via Hootsuite to all our platforms. He has also been asked to focus on website development as we will have these new stories, characters and blogs to add as well as a link to our online store front on YE Marketplace. Following on from this, Theo and Tom spoke about their summary sheet of finances to date. This has been developed to accompany the overall business summary as key reminders ahead of the finals to ensure consistency. To add additional knowledge, Tom and Theo have now been asked to find out the specific breakdown of sales for each product. This will ensure they are on top form ahead of the difficult questions the judges will ask at the Regionals. After a substantial amount of time spent reviewing last week’s actions, the students could move onto todays agenda. Billy started off by congratulating Max on his fantastic sponsorship achievement from WPD and re-emphasized the importance of everyone asking for funds where they can. This conversation was swiftly followed by one about clothing. In previous heats and finals, the students had been mixed in their appearances and therefore wanted a consistent look moving forward. Theo and Enis were tasked to do some market research on the costs of white shirts and embroidery now we have the funding to do so. Once they had gone on a hunt for prices in Tesco’s, discussions started with Hannah with regards to a plan to get photos of junior school students using their recipe cards. Billy and Hannah plan to use their connections with the junior school to get a range of photos taken for use in their presentation. The conversation then turned to YE Marketplace. The students company had finally been accepted and put live on the site, but they have been having a slight issue with how customers can purchase their product as it is a pick n mix style affair. With this, James and Joe have been tasked with contacting the developers to see if there is a way of setting up a drop-down filter or a comments box. As you can see a lot has taken place and a lot is still to be done. The students are working so hard, I personally believe that winning the company programme is exactly what they needed to boost their confidence. They are all aware of the amount of work they must put in ahead of the finals and are all ready to take on anything that is given to them. It is all very exciting, and I can’t wait to see how all of these ideas develop. After all the excitement of Wednesday’s final, the meeting yesterday was very quiet and relaxing.
At the start of the meeting the students were treated to cake which Mrs Manning brought in to congratulate them alongside various visits from members of staff including the Head of 6th Form Mr Hill and the Headteacher Mr Moir. Everyone at the school was so impressed and delighted to hear about their successes at the Area Finals. The trophies even made an appearance as Max, who had left the Area Finals before the winners were announced, needed confirmation of their success as he did not believe it to start with! After a little time to celebrate and relax, the students got down to work. They started by going around the table reflecting on the positives and negatives of the stand design, presentation and team interview. All the students believed the stand and the addition of the children’s play area were the most positive aspects as they appealed to their target market. The agreement was that moving forward this would not be a focus area but would be something that would be worth tweaking nearer the time. The students then took a critical approach and reviewed their presentation. The team agreed that this was the area they could improve upon the most. It was impressive to see that the students had already started to reflect on this after the Finals as they came in with various ideas on how to improve it from including images of children engaging with their products to a breakdown of family activities and literacy statistics. Following on from the presentation, they also discussed the way they presented to the audience. The team had received some positive comments from others saying how well they came across, but the team did not believe that they presented the most passionate pitch they could in comparison to the others within the competition. The team decided this was going to be their main development area moving forward. At the finals, the students and I made a few connections with other business advisers and one of them specialises in branding and presentations. Due to our success, meetings are now being set up for the students to meet with them and do what they can to help Phonic Farm elevate their brand and pitch. The final point they discussed was business dress. The team felt their look was inconsistent and that moving forward they all need to have a consistent look, with this they are already looking into branded Phonic Farm ties and shirts. Once the improvement points had been discussed, the students started to think about other business opportunities. One of the ideas they spoke about was developing a new story specifically for the Regional finals which was an overview of their Young Enterprise journey. The team loved this idea and it is now down to Lily to write this. I personally believe it will be a fantastic USP to launch at the finals and showcase to the judges. On top of developing a story, they also discussing developing their brand from re-designing their business cards to creating Haribo style adverts where the adults do childlike things and are voiced over by children. Tom, the Digital Director came up with this idea which was loved by everyone and has been tasked with seeing this through. Based on previous experience, I also suggested that the team should seek funding from local businesses to help finance the new ideas. Many the students work for Tesco, so this was an ideal place to start. After time, the ideas kept rolling from places Parents worked to links with the schools Governors and local clubs the students work/volunteer at. Because of this, the students are researching local businesses and emailing them to ask for support. Max, the Company Secretary has already managed to secure a large sum courtesy of Western Power Distribution which is fantastic news! It was such a productive meeting. Both Clare and I were delighted to see how winning the Finals had boosted the student’s motivation to succeed. They are truly turning into professional business men and women! Roll on the Regional Finals – if all the ideas they have come to fruition, I believe we will have a very strong change of succeeding further. On Wednesday 25th April, the Young Enterprise Area Finals took place at Kingsweston House in Lawrence Weston. The Area Finals were the chance for the 8 successful Young Enterprise teams within the West of England area to showcase their product and trade stand to a team of judges but also present their business journey, successes and learnings to over 200 participants, center leads, business advisers, visitors and judges. Bradley Stoke Community School’s student business, Phonic Farm, supported by local accountancy firm Dunkley’s, were one of the 8 teams competing for their place in the South West Regional Finals. Only 1 of the 8 teams competing were going to be successful and proceed to the next stage of the competition. Prior to the Finals, Phonic Farm spent several weeks preparing with various meetings being held to finalise stand design, prepare and rehearse their presentation but also swot up on the company report before the big team interview with the judges on the stand. As they received such fantastic feedback from the judges on their ‘marketplace’ inspired stand at the Area Heats, the students decided to continue with the same design. To add something a little different and boost their chances of success, they students added a small child’s play table with playdough, rolling pins and cookie cutters to tie it all together. Hannah (Marketing Director) and Theo (Finance Assistant) enjoying the setting up a little too much! As the stand was pretty much sorted, the students could focus their energies on creating a top-notch presentation. Hannah as Marketing Manager created the presentation and Billy as MD took the lead on writing the script and presenting. As 3-4 students could present on the night, he asked both Tom and Lily, who presented at the Area Heats to be the other students in stage with him at the Finals. After several weeks of work and a last-minute rush around the school sourcing all the final elements for the stand and presentation, the students loaded the mini bus and headed off to Kingsweston House. Once they arrived, they had little over an hour to make up the stand. The result was fantastic. The stand was full of colour, fun and Phonics. They incorporated bunting, drawers which had the 7-different pick n mix items in at child friendly heights, clear labels for each drawer, a ‘chalkboard’ price list, instructions about their purchasing process and a little shopping trolley (with duck teddy in the seat) to tie the whole market feel together. The Phonic Farm marketplace stand with 11 of the 12 company’s directors behind. From right to left we have Thomas Frost (Digital Director), James Thomas (Operations Director), Max Andrews (Company Secretary), Billy Wilde (Managing Director), Thomas Wheatley (Finance Director), Lily Whyler (HR Director), Enis Akgun (Sales Director), Hannah Evans (Marketing Director), Theodore Cox (Finance Assistant), Nicholas Mitchell (CSR Director) and Joseph Harbourd (Operations Assistant) Whilst Phonic Farm were setting up, so were the other student businesses and it was clear to see that they had some serious competition to contend with. As soon as the clock hit 4.30pm, the competition started. The judges left there ‘secret’ room and headed out to the Portrait Gallery where the trade stands were all set. The judging had started. With 2 sets of judging pairs wondering around, the teams had no idea of when they would come to them. Each team had a total of 8 minutes per pair to be questioned on their stand but also their company report. It was very tense but by 6pm the judging had all finished and to Phonic Farm’s delight, the comments were all very positive. Once the trade stand judging ended, it was time for a small break. This was very well deserved and included Pie Minster Pies which were a massive hit especially with our Company Secretary Max. During the break, the visitors who has been invited to attend from local businesses both large and small were wondering around the stands talking to all the students. Phonic Farm had a number of visitors, all of which were very impressed with the creativity of their product and the professionalism of the students. At dead on 6.45pm, the center leads, business advisors and visitors were all asked to move into the presentation hall. 5 minutes later, the music began, and all the student teams entered the hall to a large and well-deserved round of applause. As soon as the students took their seats, the 4-minute presentations began. Infusion, the team from Colston’s Girls school kick started the group and were closely followed by Bradley Stoke Community School’s Phonic Farm. The BSCS student’s presentation was very comprehensive, professional and creative, it even got a laugh or two from the crowd which helped with the nerves. Following Phonic Farm’s presentation, the remaining 6 teams took to the floor and all did such an amazing job. With all the presentations done, the judges retired to their ‘secret’ room to make the final decision. It was now just a waiting game for the teams ahead of the awards. Half an hour later, everyone was called into the hall for the announcements. There were 12 awards to be given out ranging from Best Trade Stand to the Entrepreneurial Award and the coveted Company Programme Winner 2018. The first award of the night was the Journey Award was give to a student who had shown vast develop throughout the process. This award was followed by the Entrepreneurial and the Green/Ethical awards both of which were given to team Evoke from St Bede’s. The Innovation award followed which to the surprise all the BSCS students was given to Phonic Farm! The judges described their product as “unique, creative and unlike anything on the market!’. It was fantastic to see their faces light up and their spirit lift! The awards then continued to choose the Best MD, Business Advisor and Centre Lead. These were then followed by the Best Trade Stand, Presentation and Report. Before we knew it, the final award was being announced…the one everyone had been waiting for. Who would be crowned the West of England Company Programme Winner? The judges congratulated every team and then got down to business by announcing who ranked 3rd, 2nd and 1st. Atlas from Badminton School placed 3rd with their creative motivational artwork business and to everyone surprise, the team who had continually been the strongest throughout the competition so far, Bamboo Business who make bamboo serving boards, placed 2nd. The competition was blown open! The judges did not do an introduction for first place, they simply said the words ‘Phonic Farm’. To say the team were in shock was an understatement – they had done it! Billy ran up on stage to collect the award and with a little prompting the rest of the team joined him. It was the best outcome we could have possibly asked for! The look on the teams faces once the result sunk in was priceless. They were on such a high and still are! The West of England Company Programme Winners - Phonic Farm! From left to right we have Clare Manning (BSCS Centre Lead), Nicole Crompton (Business Advisor from Dunkley’s), Joseph Harbourd (Operations Assistant), Hannah Evans (Marketing Director), Thomas Frost (Digital Director), Lily Whyler (HR Director), James Thomas (Operations Director), Theodore Cox (Finance Assistant), Billy Wilde (Managing Director), Enis Akgun (Sales Director), Thomas Wheatley (Finance Director) , Nicholas Mitchell (CSR Director) and Derek Quinn (Award sponsor from Midas Construction) “After 6 months of hard work, I could not have dreamed of a more perfect result. To see the look on their faces when their name was called was priceless. I am immensely proud of them and cannot wait to see how well they succeed at the Regional Finals. Bring it on I say!” Nicole Crompton, Phonic Farm’s Business Adviser from Dunkley’s To say it was a success would be an understatement, it was an immense achievement which was so well deserved. This result truly reflected all the hard work, enthusiasm and passion the students had put into their business. The next stop is now the South West Regional Finals taking place on Wednesday 13th June at the Met Office, Exeter. Wish them luck! With only 2 days to go until the Area Finals at Kingsweston House, the Phonic Farm students were busy making final preparations. Billy started the meeting as usual by handing out actions for each of them to complete ahead of the big day. He decided that the 3 students who presented at the Area Heats (Billy, Lily and Tom) would continue to present at the upcoming Finals. This meant they would spend the remainder of the meeting finalising their pitch. With the other focus being the stand, Hannah, Joe and James were given the main responsibility of ensuring everything was ready to go. As Operations Directors, Joe and James ensured all the materials required to make the stand from the base to the baskets, till and mini shopping trolley were ready to put onto the mini bus. Hannah as Marketing was then responsible for ensuring all the decorative items and marketing materials were ready to go from labels on the baskets to business cards, roller banners and branded sales leaflets. With these responsibilities gone, the others were given the important task of finding all the missing elements from around the school. Max took the lead by heading down to the Art Department to secure the easel, black card and chalk for the price list. Once he’d completed this he headed off to the Junior School to borrow a teddy duck which sat in the trolley at the Area Heats as a little added touch. Whilst all of this was taking place Billy, Lily and Tom were busy writing their pitch using the bullet points including the presentation which ranged from their learnings to the journey they’ve been on to the overall brand and product. As the deadline for completing and sending the presentations to Gillian was on Sunday, the students could fully focus on presenting. Once they had finalised what they were going to say, Clare and I sat down to listen and time their pitch. We were both so impressed with the content however to all our surprise, they had over 1 minute and a half to spare at the end. As the presentation is limited to 4 minutes, this is quite impressive. Clare and I then began to give pointers on what additional content they can include – the main being to focus on the product development from a cookbook to recipe cards and the full scope for a set of 26 using the characters, the way they have built the brand and maintained a strong consistent message throughout and a full explanation of why they are called Phonic Farm as this was pointed out as a misunderstanding previously. After this the meeting ended which was perfect timing as the students had a lot to take away and help improve the content in the presentation. The next step on Phonic Farm’s journey is the finals! Wish them luck! To get live updates on the finals, why not follow Phonic Farm on Twitter @PhonicFarm? If Twitter isn’t your thing, then make sure to check out my next blog which will be live on the website by Friday 27th April 2018. With the area finals a matter of weeks away, there was no rest for the Phonic Farm students on their first day back at school after the Easter holidays.
At 3.30pm Billy started the meeting discussing the actions that were allocated over Easter. All the students had been working very hard as everything was completed. This was exactly what was needed moving into the final weeks. As all the Easter actions were done and dusted, Billy moved on swiftly to explain the Area Finals and allocate tasks accordingly. He started off by explaining the outline of the day from the start time, to the presentation, trade stand judging and close. With this being explained, Lily started producing a rota of which students were able to attend and at what time. Luckily, before the holidays began Mrs Manning managed to book the schools Mini Bus so everyone who is available to come can without having to organise cars and alternative lifts. As you can imagine, there is a lot to do and this really kicked the students into gear as they are determined to maintain their strong position within the competition. Lily, alongside the rota, was given the responsibility of revisiting the company report as she had received such high marks in her section at the Area Heats. As Marketing Manager, Hannah was given the responsibility to organise the stand. As the judges loved it so much in the heats, the team decided to leave it the same, but this meant Hannah had to ensure all logistics were in place to get all the items from the Junior School and various departments before the day of the finals. As well as a revised company report and trade stand, the students must prepare a 4-minute PowerPoint presentation based on their journey. Billy, Max, Dan and Nick decided between them to start working on a basic structure for this presentation pulling from the key points within the company report. The decision regarding who will present, is still to be decided. James and Tom took on the role of finalising Phonic Farm’s YE Online presence and have managed to get all the product options up for customers to choose from. This is a fantastic achievement as the company can now sell to a wider audience via online channels. Throughout the meeting, Tom, Theo and Enis were discussing ideas on how to sell the remaining stock. They were busy researching the events timetable for both the Junior and Senior School but also the other schools within the Olympus Trust Partnership. The students are currently amid discussions with the Partnership to see if their phonic inspired recipe cards can be incorporated into the curriculum however attending events could be an alternative avenue to sell to Parents, Carers and Teachers. Alongside this, the school have a strong connection with the local shopping hub, the Willow Brook Centre, as one of the schools Governors heads up the operation. Theo, Tom and Enis worked on an email to discuss if they could get a pop-up stand in the centre one weekend to sell their product to the public. Fingers crossed they can! With all this taking place, it was a very busy meeting and the next few weeks are set to continue this pattern. It will be great to see how much progress is made – will keep you all updated! Last week was a very busy week for the student business as they had the area heats taking place at the Bristol and Bath Science Park in Emersons Green on Thursday. The area heats were the chance for the 12 Young Enterprise teams in the Bristol area to showcase their product to a trio of judges but also present their business journey, successes and learnings in front of a panel of Dragons. Phonic Farm spent the week preparing for the heats with various meetings being held to finalise stand design, prepare and rehearse their Dragons Den pitch but also swot up on the company report before the big team interview. With the stand design finalised and the Dragons Den pitch perfected, Thursday hit, and the students were busy running around the school to get everything collected. As they received a lot constructive feedback from the Cribbs Causeway trade fair, the students wanted to make the stand as child friendly as possible. The idea they decided on was a ‘Phonic Farm marketplace’ design which incorporated learning and fun. To make this marketplace, the students required a lot of elements from the Primary Phase including a large Ikea unit with wooden baskets, a child size shopping trolley and a child’s cash register. As the Primary Phase needed these items to play and learn with over the course of the week, we had to take them at the very last minute. After a very interesting afternoon of collecting the items, the students managed to get everything they needed and squish it into my car (by squish I mean half of the unit hanging out of my little corsa!). With this done, we were off! The students and I arrived at the Science Park on time ready to get in and set up the stand. After a good 45 minutes, the students had managed to get everything from my car and for the first time see their ‘Phonic Farm marketplace’ stand in all its glory. As we didn’t have access to all the elements until the day, it was very much a matter of making it up and seeing what happens! The result was fantastic. The stand was full of colour, fun and Phonics. They incorporated bunting, drawers which had the 7-different pick n mix items in at child friendly heights, clear labels for each drawer, a ‘chalkboard’ price list, instructions about their purchasing process and a little shopping trolley (with duck teddy in the seat) to tie the whole market feel together. The Phonic Farm marketplace stand with some of the company’s directors behind. From right to left we have Thomas Wheatly (Finance Director), James Thomas (Operations Director), Lily Whyler (HR Director), Billy Wilde (Managing Director) and Nicholas Mitchell (CSR Director). Whilst Phonic Farm were setting up, so were the other student businesses and it was clear to see that we had some serious competition to contend with. As soon as the clock hit 4pm, the competition started. The 12 teams, were divided into 2 groups, the first heading into their Dragons Den pitch and the second being judged on their trade stand. Phonic Farm were in group 1 meaning the long wait to be called to the Dragons Den began. During this time, there were a lot of people milling around the Science Park and all of those who were, were so impressed at the visual impact of Phonic Farm’s stand as well as the product innovation. It was great to receive such great feedback – you could see how much this boosted the student’s confidence. 30 minutes later, Billy, Tom and Lily were collected by one of the Young Enterprise board members and taken to the Dragons Den pitch. 15 minutes later, they came out with massive smiles on their faces. It has clearly gone well! The rest of the team, as expected then asked them to re-cap what had gone on. They explained that the pitch went well even though they over ran slightly and that afterwards they were asked a lot of questions about their learnings, finances and overall experience to date. The team were delighted to hear how positively their pitch was received – it gave them another confidence boost which kept them going for the rest of the evening. The evening continued with a small food break between the two groups where the students were very happy as they received free Krispy Kreme doughnuts for their efforts. As soon as all the doughnuts disappeared (which as you can expect wasn’t too long!) the second round of judging commenced. This time, it was Phonic Farm’s turn to be judged on stand appearance. This was a big part of the competition for the students as they had so drastically changed their stand layout after the feedback at the Cribbs Causeway trade fair. There were three trade stand judges in total, each of them coming around to the stand at different times and with different questions. It was up to the students to always be on hand as it wasn’t clear who was the judge and who wasn’t. Once the judges approached the stand, they made themselves clear to the students. Each time, the students presented themselves well and fully explained the product. The trade stand judges always had a smile on their faces when talking with the students, which was fantastic as you could see they liked the product, explanation and all the effort the students had made to make it child friendly. As soon as the judging was over, it was a long wait to hear the results. As it was a heats round, only 8 of the 12 teams could progress to the Area Finals at Kingsweston House on Wednesday 25th April. Before you knew it, the moment came. All 12 teams were very anxious about finding out their fate. The names were read out in no particular order…firstly Bristol Free School, followed by Bath College, Badminton, Clifton High School, St Bede’s, Colston Girls School…at this point only 2 spaces were left, and we hadn’t been called. The students hearts started to race! With several strong teams still to be called, it was very tense. The 7th team announced were Brimsham Green and finally, Bradley Stoke were called. We made it through! When the scores were revelled, Phonic Farm placed 3rd out of the 12 teams and by quite a margin. They received 269 points out of a possible 350. This was a fantastic achievement and the comments they received by the judges supported this. The Dragons commented that it was a ‘good solid business’ and that they ‘liked the idea of the story on the back of the recipe sheet’. The trade stand judges couldn’t have had higher praise for them – they said that it was an ‘excellent idea to aid kids and have a fun activity to go along with it’, that the display was ‘great’ and that they loved the ‘baskets to draw in the children & bright colours’. The judges commented on the students understanding and explanation of the products, they said how ‘passionate’ each of them were about the business and how well they worked together as a team. They also mentioned how Billy, as Managing Director gave them ‘clear leadership and roles across the business’. Overall, they loved the product and idea saying how ‘interactive’, ‘engaging’ and ‘creative’ it was and that it has a lot of promise to ‘evolve in the future’. It was such a successful evening and both Clare and I are very proud of the team for doing so well. The night and comments from the judges truly reflect the hard work the students have put in. Next stop the Area Finals – fingers crossed we do well to then progress onto the South West regionals in June. With the company report submitted and the area heats just around the corner, yesterdays meeting was a key one. The aim of the meeting was to get the Dragons Den pitch and stand design finalised. The meeting started off with Billy explaining what was required of the students and who was going to be going into the Dragons Den pitch. It was decided, due to their roles, Billy as MD, Tom W as Finance Director and Lily as HR Director were the 3 best suited to speak. With this, Billy, Lily and Tom W headed down to the computer room to produce a PowerPoint focusing on the top 5 points they would like to convey to the judges. The criteria states that they only have 4 minutes to fully explain their product, what they have done, what they have learnt and how they have developed as a team throughout the process, so it is a lot to fit into such a small-time slot. The other students remained with me to decide on their stand design. From the feedback at the last trade fair, the judges said the stand looked too much like a ‘homeware’ product than a child focused learning tool. With this, I asked the students to do some research into creative ways they could make their product link back to their objective of making learning fun. After a little time to throw ideas around, the students decided on a ‘kids market stand’ design like the one pictured on the left. With this decision made, the next challenge was to work out how we could source the items required to make it as colourful and realistic as the photo. Luckily, Bradley Stoke Community School is not just a Senior school but also a Junior school. Billy and James, took the initiative to head to the Junior school with a rough drawing and list of what we needed to source. It was a random list of items with everything from a small shopping trolley to a play cash register and stuffed animals to link with our Phonic Farm characters. Once Billy and James got to the Junior school, they managed to catch the headteacher who was more than willing to help them out. She had everything they needed – even the shopping trolley! She also had a perfect unit, which is very similar to the one in the image, which would become their ‘stand’. It is split into 8 and has baskets in each box, the students quickly used this as inspiration to have each of their 7 pick n mix items in a box making it an interactive buying experience for the customer. There is still a lot of work to bring the stand together with various labels needing to be produced from identifying which item is in which box and the 3 steps of the process. Some items also still need to be sourced such as a whiteboard for prices and bunting to place between our two roller banners. Without sounding bias, I think this stand design has a lot of potential. It is colourful, creative and aligns with the student’s vision of making a child friendly product which helps make learning fun. It will be interesting to see how the judges take it, especially now as it is so far from the design we presented at the last trade fair. Wish them luck! |
AuthorNicole Crompton, Marketing Manager at Dunkley's Chartered Accountants |