ABE Endorsed KidsMBA at Gresham's School

PROVIDING REAL-WORLD BUSINESS EXPERIENCE FOR PUPILS WITH THE ABE ENDORSED KIDSMBA PROGRAMME

About the school

Gresham’s School is a historic and vibrant co-educational school founded in 1555 It is set on a 200-acre estate, just four miles from the North Norfolk coast, and notable alumni include W H Auden, Benjamin Britten, and Sir James Dyson amongst others The Prep School consists of approximately 60 members of staff and 260 pupils from the age of 7 to 13 There is a Pre-Prep School for pupils aged 2 to 7 and the Gresham’s Senior School teaches pupils from 13 to 18 Most of the Prep School pupils move on to the Senior School at Year 9 entry

When entering classrooms at Gresham’s Prep School, the most striking thing is the high level of engagement from our pupils –they love learning! We aim to provide a rich and varied diet of academic rigour, peppered with plenty of opportunities to learn new skills and knowledge that are not traditionally taught across the country

About the ABE Endorsed KidsMBA Programme

The ABE Endorsed KidsMBA programme was added to our curriculum at the start of the academic year 2021-22 to do just that We saw it as a brilliant opportunity to give serious time and resources to a programme away from the traditional academic and arts subjects to further prepare our pupils for real life experiences in the way we teach

We were drawn to this specific business and entrepreneurship programme as it was endorsed by ABE and came with their relevant expertise and recognised certification It also had all the sessions planned and prepared so that it could be adapted by our staff to readily teach Finally, there was a collaborative and creative element in the ‘Shark Tank’ that engages the pupils, staff, and parents in the Gresham’s community

The outcomes

The outcomes for the pupils are easy to see when they stand in front of their teachers, peers and families to present as a team their business concept and the details within it There is no formal assessment as such which enables the pupils to be creative, idiosyncratic, and daring with that pressure removed The teachers monitor the pupils’ understanding in sessions and the groups preparation before the publicspeaking element at the end of the programme. This is an area we noticed that the pupils needed additional support in, so therefore we arranged for the drama department to teach public-speaking skills as an intervention in lessons

Parents in our school community have really got behind the initiative, and some have supported the programme further by being judges at the Shark Tank event or delivering workshops These have included sessions on the principles of money, starting and sustaining a local business, and leadership to enrich the learning

The programme is taught to all pupils in our Year 8 cohort each year through a timetabled lesson every other week across our two-week timetable The lessons are 45 minutes each, and there are four classes each with a different teacher To ensure consistency across the classes, one teacher oversees the long and medium-term planning of the sessions and there are many occasions where team teaching occurs, or the classes get together for a whole year group session. As we get further into the academic year, we use other periods of time to prepare for the Shark Tank event in May, which is the culmination of the programme

What the pupils say about the programme

On finishing the programme, the pupils at Gresham’s Prep School were surveyed, being asked about what they had learned, what they enjoyed and the skills they think they had gained on the course The qualitative data we gathered was exceptionally positive with pupils commenting that they had learned, “teamwork”, “the importance of customer service and people skills”, “key aspects of business” and how to “use online as a workspace” They added that they enjoyed, “creating a logo and a brand” and “working as a team, setting up a business and learning about how other businesses have made a high-achieving business”

One comment which reflected the views of the pupil cohort and staff was that they were, “learning more about a subject that could potentially become a career in later life”. That emphasis and recognition on future skills is why we continue to deliver the ABE Endorsed KidsMBA programme at Gresham’s Prep School