Feedback

Catriona Rees, King’s School, Worcester. What Makes A (Hu)Man?: September 2023.

Dear Bernie, A huge thank you for coming all the way to King’s yesterday. It was so wonderful to finally meet you and for you to speak to our year 11s. It was very positively received and clearly gave them a lot to reflect on. Safe travels home. We hope to see you again soon.

Best wishes, Catriona.

Ms M. Francis, Reed’s School, Cobham, Surrey. Enterprise Soapbox: September 2023.

Thanks so much for your hard work from this week!

Thought you might like these comments from Year 7 😊

It is useful as your working with someone else and you need them to know you and you to know them so it’s good and you also need to be ready to listen to other peoples ideas.

“I think making your own company is somewhat useful because I might make a company, just not with soap.

It was a good activity to encourage team work as you had to learn to understand your team and get everyone involved

I really liked the competition and how everyone was really making an effort. I also liked seeing the results of all our hard work.

I enjoyed working with others and with people I haven’t spoken to before. I also enjoyed making the soap and everyone did different parts so it all came together really well.

I really enjoyed it because I got to know other people a little bit better but I also got to know how soap is made and how interesting it is and to actually realise that I made something that we wash our hands with every day was pretty cool.

I really enjoyed the soapbox challenge because it was a chance to work with people who I wouldn’t normally work with and also it helped to talk to more people

The soapbox challenge is a great way to make friendships you might never have thought about.It is a great way to make a new friend and develop some skills along the way.

I loved seeing how the soap turned out as I was making the box and had no idea what it would turn out like. Also I had some great fun building the box”.

Jill Howard, Society of Heads, online CPD for Headteachers and Safeguarding Leads, June 2023.

“Bernie is extremely knowledgeable around the topic of sexism and misogyny, and our DSL group really enjoyed listening to his talk – so much so, they would like to hear more and we will be rebooking Bernie for another meeting next year!  Hearing Bernie’s personal story and insights into this difficult topic, really brings home how easily things can happen and go wrong for people, but it’s also inspiring to hear how positives can come out of sad situations.  Life lessons for us all, and Bernie is confident in speaking to students, staff and parents, and we would wholeheartedly recommend him.”

The Society of Heads (Independent Schools)

Vikki Dunn, Castle Mead Academy, Leicester. March 2023

“Hi Bernie, Firstly, sorry it’s taken me so long to get back in touch with you, but I just wanted to say a massive thank you. Your session was so impactful and well-received, and I’ve heard nothing by glowing reports from staff and students alike”.

Mrs Haigh, Lancaster Royal Grammar School.

Hi Bernie,

It was great to meet you in person on Friday.Everyone I’ve spoken to has given positive feedback about the sessions. Let’s keep in touch with the aim of making it an annual session for the Lower Sixth. Best wishes, Sarah.

Sophie McPhee, Safeguarding / PSHE Coordinator, QMGS, Walsall, February 2023:

“Bernie came into QMGS yesterday and my colleague Ms Morgan emailed all staff and sixth form urging them to come to his talks because they were one of the best she’d ever seen. Definitely recommended – Bernie has been to our school about four times now”

Co-Op Academy, Walkden, December 2021.

“Thank you Bernie – great session and a powerful message. Great to have you join us!” Matt Hacker, Principal. “It’s safe to say your [healthy relationships] talks went down well with pupils and staff, lots of positive feedback. Really well done”. J.Mangas, PSHE Director.

St Columba’s College, St Albans, December 2021.

Mill Hill School, London, June 2021, DWELL: Reimagining the future of housing. 

Resources + virtual delivery of two-hour workshop.

Grammar School, North West England, April 2021, Sarah/s Legacy: Domestic Violence.

“Bernie led a virtual assembly and follow-up workshop over Teams with our Year 12 and Year 13 students on the topic of domestic violence. Both tutors and students have reacted very positively to these sessions. His delivery was excellent, and he appealed effectively to the teenage target audience. The interactive nature of the workshop worked very well, generating thoughtful and meaningful discussion on a challenging topic that continued between students and staff well beyond the session itself. This is a difficult topic to address, but Bernie’s use of a highly personal story followed by opportunity for discussion and analysis of statistics proved a very effective mix. I would recommend this session to other schools wishing to tackle the issues of domestic violence and sexual harassment and I have invited Bernie back so that all future generations of Sixth Formers can benefit from this insightful and powerful session.”

Bournemouth and Poole College, National Careers Week Power Hour virtual talk.

Hi Bernie, I just wanted to thank you for your live Power Hour with our students during #NCW2021 last week. The session was really engaging and relatable. So far, it looks like we have had around 445 staff and students either access the session live or at some point throughout the week, which is fantastic.  Many, many thanks once again for such an engaging and tangible session. Kind regards, Pippa. Personal Development Manager.  

Prudential Skills For Life – Edinburgh. (Delivered with The Talent Foundry).

speaking

I thought I would share some of the schools’ feedback about this week’s session, so that you can head into the weekend smiling!  *   Absolutely fantastic, I was really, really impressed. Even just being invited to something like this was just brilliant.  *   The students walked away from it really positive for the session and excited for the next one. We will definitely be back and looking forward to it already.  *   They thought the session was challenging and forced them to break through their usual boundaries  *   They liked it being a relatively small group that they didn’t get lost in  *   They liked it that they had to mix and meet new people  *   They liked the host (Bernie) and said he made them more relaxed than they would normally have been in that situation  *   Just having the different kind of activities to anything they would have done was great, like the handshake and meeting the volunteers. Excellent.  *   They liked to opportunity to use STAR in a mock interview in front of peers, though one of them said they felt put on the spot a bit to start with and doesn’t like public  

Mrs Carter, Chesterton Community College, Cambridge.

It was lovely to meet you today and Enterprise Soapbox was such a fantastic event for our Yr 9 students. Thank you so much for comming to run this event. Students got a lot out of it and they did an amazing job. I really liked that you picked Artic Splash as the winners. They had a great theme and ideas behind their idea. Would love to organise this again next year.  

Mrs Venning, Aylesbury Grammar School: Life By The Balls.

Dear Bernie, Thanks so much for yesterday – the response from the students has been excellent. Such an important message, and also important that our students heard it from a man and with such a strong personal connection to Testicular Cancer. I will be in touch about possible future options  Kind regards, Lilla

Miss McKenna, Hoe Valley School: LAUNCH / Stock Market Challenge.

Henry Moggridge, Oxford Royale Academy

“I just wanted to let you know that Stock Market Challenge was by far our most popular masterclass in 2018, with a lot of positive feedback coming through from both staff and students! So, firstly, a huge ‘thank you’ from us, and congratulations! Your SoapScience workshop was also a Session highlight, at the same level as some of our social program activities (including a trip to London) in terms of popularity!  Secondly, we want more masterclasses like this!”  

 Hamzah Kahn, Dixon Kings Academy

Keeping 180 students engaged after school on a Friday is no mean feat. You did a great job of it Bernie. Thank you for the inspiring words and laughs.

T

Sylvia Barber, Leeds Beckett University

Thank you very much for running and contributing to such a successful and effective event. I really enjoyed it! The day went really well and all the feedback has been very positive. T

Rachelle Le Corre, Ashburton Investment Group

Both events attracted outstanding feedback from students, teachers and clients. Our senior leadership team, who were co-incidentally in Jersey and joined us throughout the day, have been extremely complimentary about the event and have even enquired about rolling the concept our to our wider business.

T

Reed’s School, Surrey. Life By The Balls (testicular cancer workshop).

You delivered a serious topic in a very accessible and thought-provoking way, delivering some important messages that I am sure will stay with them. (450 Sixth Formers – co-educational). Thank you very much – Mrs M. Francis, Head of PSHE. T

Our Lady & St Chad’s Catholic College, Wolverhampton.

Achievement Coordinator, Becky Gingell said “the staff told me the students were really respectful and did really well presenting. Thanks to you and Joe for the excellent delivery as usual, the day flew by and the pupils loved it. All have given some great feedback. Thank you”. Here is the page with a full Case Study on the session. T

Head of Marketing, Ashburton Investments – School and Corporate Event Nov ’17.

As you are all aware, we held our second Ashburton Stock Market Challenge and inaugural academic edition. Both events attracted outstanding feedback from students, teachers and clients. Our senior leadership team, who were co-incidentally in Jersey and joined us throughout the day, have been extremely complimentary about the event and have even enquired about rolling the concept our to our wider business. The marketing team are most importantly, delighted by how everything turned out. T

Student, Aylesbury Grammar School, Life By The Balls, Sixth Form May ’17.

Thank you for delivering a fantastic talk today, it was the perfect tone and your message has clearly been delivered! Genuinely was the best talk we’ve had from an ex-AGS student and I’m 100% sure my colleagues will agree!! T

Michael, Student, Aylesbury Grammar School, Life By The Balls, Sixth Form May ’17.

“Ordinarily, I don’t tend to do this sort of thing as I felt our reactions speak for themselves, but I would just like to pass on a collective thank you to Bernie the speaker today. What an absolutely incredible hour, not only do I fell like everyone thoroughly enjoyed what he had to say, I also thought the messages he was trying to bring across to us were extremely well received and most importantly useful. Speaking on behalf of everyone who I spoke with afterwards, it was perhaps the most successful lecture yet and I hope you can pass that message onto him because I feel like it is most definitely deserved.” Kind regards, Michael. [e-mail to head of Sixth Form]. T

Lena Khudeza, Woodbridge High School. #LAUNCH exam motivation session, March ’17.

Bernie, a huge thank you for coming in to speak to our students! I did a survey of students and teachers and you got a whopping 98% Good/Excellent for your #LAUNCH talk!! (The highest this year!) Here are some of the lovely things they had to say about you: ‘Enjoyed how truthful he was and how he told us honestly about getting in trouble etc. And also I learnt that you need to balance your life out and care about things equally. You have to focus on personal wellbeing but also others, and work hard for what you want and also to be careful for testicular cancer’ ‘He kept us engaged during the enrichment. The fact that he was revealing his life decisions and his regrets for it, accepting what he had done wrong and what he did to change his way was really inspiring. He also reminded us that that are always other options.’ ‘I enjoyed that Bernie was willing to tell us his life story in an enthusiastic way without dwelling on the issues for long periods of time, and being easily able to relate to our age group.’ Lena. T

Al Wilson, Centre for Leadership Performance, Cumbria.

In our team meeting yesterday we had a quick review of last Friday’s Dream Placement Celebration Event and decided it was brilliant – great audience, great venue, great structure and discussion and a great atmosphere. We really appreciate the job you did [as panel host] and the slick, professional, flexible, informed and humorous way you handled the dialogue and debate. Thank you. T

Becky McGowan – Brownhills School, Walsall.

It was my pleasure! The Rock Club maths / enterprise session was a great experience for both staff and students. I have had a number of year 8’s ask if the next focus day will be similar as they enjoyed it so much. I have been meaning to thank you and Rad for travelling so far to make yesterday a reality, also it was so very kind to bring along prizes and extra resources that I know the students put to good use in their displays. Kind regards, Becky McGowan T

Gemma Hay – George Heriot’s School

Principal Teacher of Citizenship, Enterprise and International Education

Thank you to you and Millie for all you did last week with our S2 classes. We’ve had lots of great feedback and the photos show what a positive event it was for the pupils. For us, it really builds on the enterprise work done in June and sets us up well for the design challenge in November so we know it is a winning formula. Really appreciate all you do to make it so successful. Here’s a link to the School’s review of the 2 days. T  

Fran Edwards, Alperton School, Wembley.

Dear Patrick Grace and Gema, Thank you for today. The staff cannot speak highly enough of the Stock Market challenge day. The feedback at lunch was great from students! Bernie, you have definitely convinced me that anything your company delivers is of the highest quality. Please send me over the brochure again. Best regards I will be in touch. Fran. T  

Yvonne Lang, Ermysted’s Grammar, Skipton.

Please pass on my thanks to both Millie and Rad – they were my first event of a very tiring week and it went brilliantly. They were so good with the boys and we got some impressive soaps out of it as well as all the useful educational outcomes! I’m glad Ermysted’s made a good impression on them, hopefully we will have the chance to work together again in the future. T

Matt Burnage, Oxford Royale Academy Summer Schools.

Hi Bernie, Thanks for your hard work over the course of the summer – I’ve heard nothing but glowing praise for your workshops, from staff and students alike! I’ll be putting in an appropriately good word for you to my successor, and I have no doubt that ORA will be welcoming you again in 2017. Thanks as ever, Matt. T

Eddie Owusu, King’s Winchester. Stock Market Challenge.

Hi Patrick Thanks once again for the great job you’ve done over the last three mornings. As I said the positive feedback has been overwhelming, from teachers and pupils alike. Especially teachers who enjoyed the upbeat nature of the task. Many have already asked to join in next time. I also think it has inspired/encouraged teaching staff to: think about other ways to engage the youngsters, think about how departments can link together and there’s even been an idea to run SMC as a staff/community social. So well done, it’s been well worth it. Regards Eddie O. Winchester. T    

Kelly MacAnally, Litherland High School.

You were brilliant. Both staff and students had a wonderful and memorable afternoon. There was such a buzz. Thank you for your time and hard work!! T  

Gemma Hay, George Heriot’s School, Edinburgh.

We’ve worked with Innovative Enterprise for over 6 years.  The input they provide into our Enterprise curriculum is brilliant – the days are tailored to the needs of our pupils and the team deliver a high impact, memorable event with lots of very practical learning for  pupils.  Bernie and his team are hugely personable, well organised and they really understand how a school works – their sessions run to time and only require space and some tables: everything else is provided by them.  We’ve looked at other enterprise education providers but feel that IE continue to provide the best learning experience for our pupils and enables us to use the experiences from the workshops to develop enterprising skills through the curriculum.  Pupils still talk about the IE Soapbox day years later! I’m very happy to recommend them to others. Gemma Hay, Principal Teacher of Citizenship, Enterprise and International Education, George Heriot’s School, Edinburgh T

Nick Hall, Blackburn College.

“Your session – to launch Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW2015) at Blackburn College – was brilliant and everyone enjoyed it. The employers were impressed by the students’ presentations which is important in terms of the external PR you gave our Enterprise Week. Thanks for your help and we will certainly be looking for you to run other sessions”. T  

Rebecca Paul, Wigan.

Bernie Firstly, may I thank you for visiting St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School this morning and delivering your workshop so brilliantly to our 240 year 11 pupils. It is always a pleasure to invite you to our school, because we always know that you will really bring out the best in our pupils.  As we briefly discussed, we are always very interested in any other workshops that you deliver and/or would like to trial with our pupils.  Please do not hesitate to contact me regarding the ideas you mentioned, we would be more than happy to consider how this could fit into our curriculum. Kind regards,   Rebecca Paul. T    

Fran Edwards, Alperton School.

Dear Bernie.  Life By The Balls was all fab thanks. Students and staff were buzzing about it throughout the day. Can you send me a brochure of the other Workshops/talks you offer through your company? Hope you have not got a sore throat from talking all day long to.over 1140 students 35 teachers! I am really.pleased that you found us hospitalable and you enjoyed the fish and chips and donut day! Fran.    

Donna Young – SLT member, Cambridge

Re: #LAUNCH INSET Day Session.   “Thanks so much for the training day yesterday for staff on our Professional Day. Everyone was really enthusiastic about your session – not only did it get everyone thinking about how they m,ight motivate students, it also encouraged a really positive attitude amongst staff for the rest of the Professional Day. Wishing you a great summer and looking forward to working with you again next academic year”  

Teens and Toddlers, Manchester.

Bernie delivered the Keynote speech for Teens and Toddlers’ Annual Awards evening on 29th April 2015 at the prestigious National Football Museum at Urbis in Manchester. Here is some feedback about the session for the 400+ graduating students, first from Michelle Farrell-Bell the NW Director: “Hi Bernie, Just wanted to say many thanks for a great performance last night. Everybody really enjoyed it. I have been hearing from the team this morning just how many young people said they enjoyed your presentation. Thank you” …and this from Sandra Brobbey from the London office in a tweet: “Good to meet to you too Bernie. Your talk at @TeensandTodds graduation event was captivating & inspiring.” Thanks – it was an amazing evening and a privelidge to support your charity…for more info on the Teens and Toddlers project have a look at their website www.teensandtoddlers.org T

Steve Randles, Kendal College

Steve Randles, Head of Outdoor Education, Kendal Colege: “The Eco-Fish workshop helped students from Outdoor Education, Sports, Business Studies and Catering courses to work together and tackle a number of issues. Obviously at the heart of the game is Sustainability as countries (teams) have to work together as a type of UN to balance out feeding their country, other countries and leaving enough fish to continue to breed and reproduce for future generations. The main areas of development covered were Risk, Sustainability and, surprisingly Leadership came out as a really important aspect of the learning on the day. Many students have reported that their team needed and responded to strong leaders – and often the leaders that emerged within the progress of the simulation weren’t the ones chosen by the team!” T

Deb Dalzell, Windermere School

#LAUNCH Exam Motivation session, January. “The Year 10s never cheer anybody, but they cheered you!” We ran an exam-motivation session for the Year 10 students at Windermere School, an Independent School in the Lake District and the above comment came from the Head of Year, Debbie Dalzell. The students were engaged and enthusiastic, carrying out exercises based on their own attitudes and behaviour towards exams, they are now focused on delivering the best possible grades for themselves and their future opportunities.

 T

Faisal Ahmed, Stretford High, Manchester.

Bernie was superb, creative and engaging. Many students felt he would make an excellent teacher. I can’t wait to invite such a dynamic, organized and life-changing person back into school!

 T

Sarah Timms, Kirkbie Kendal 6th Form

Feedback Sheet, Kirkbie Kendal Sixth Form, #LAUNCH exam preparation workshop, January 2015: Q: What aspects of the presenter’s style of facilitation and engagement did you like/dislike?

 A: “Bernie spoke at the student’s level , very entertaining , yet a serious note , good up to date examples – made the future very relevant to them. This was a clear message about making plans for the future”

Sixth form Student feedback: ” ‘best speaker we have had all year’ ‘he was funny and entertaining’ ‘he made me think about making plans for the future’ ‘the hour went so quickly’ ‘could listen to him again’ ‘ thanks for arranging for him to come in – I found it very interesting’ “.

T

Eddie Aylett, Bower Park Academy

Andrew Bernard excelled with our pupils, approachable and on their level. A great opportunity for students and staff, I would recommend Bernie and his workshop to other schools.

 T

Antonia Farrow, Transformation Trust

It has been a real pleasure working with you over all the various projects (Soapbox, Ready to Impress, DELL Powering Transformation… etc!). Innovative Enterprise does fantastic work that I know is hugely valued by schools and has a hugely positive impact on young people. I am so pleased that you are very involved in the Trust – we are lucky to have you!

 T

Barclays LifeSkills / Transformation Trust.

Teacher, Gillian H, Gtr Manchester Secondary, December 2014. Dear Bernie, Thank you so much for Tuesday – your session was by far the favourite for our year 11 students on their careers carousel. Hopefully we will be able to arrange further sessions! Thanks again, Gillian. T Volunteer – Graham M, Barclays LifeSkills: November 2014 Hi, I wanted to come back to you and let you know what a great day I had at the Academy in Manchester: I thought you were excellent, full of energy and enthusiasm, and fantastic at finding the right balance between controlling the groups, while fostering a lively debate amongst the pupils.  Obviously you’re a professional and clearly very, very good at your job, but I had a great time and wanted to let you know. It’s certainly encouraged me to do more LifeSkills in future and hopefully I’ll get to work with you again. T   Tutor – Mikala W, Sixth Form College, Manchester. December 2014 Facilitated LifeSkills workshops are a new initiative for schools. Would you like to share any other feedback? I feel this workshop has really helped students to see what it is like from the perspective of ‘real life’ people, who are not their teachers. As sometime they turn off to what their teachers say – but when it is someone else, telling them how it really is it can ‘settle in’ for them. Bernie was fantastic and an excellent facilitator and speaker. The students responded really well to him and got a lot from the workshops, Thank you! T

Julia Goddard, Wycombe Abbey School

Dear Bernie, Thank you so much for the wonderful Soap Day yesterday. I know that everybody really enjoyed it. You were able to inspire the girls to do their best work, so that they really cared about their products and the outcomes. This is a great gift of yours: you inspired all of us. T

Liz Davison, AHT, James Rennie Special School

Liz Davison is the Assistant Headteacher at James Rennie Special School in Carlisle and they were the winners of an Enterprise Soapbox competition in Spring term. In June 2014 they ran a full day workshop with their students and quickly sold out of the soaps that they made in their school fundraiser! “The soapmaking kit provided a wonderful opportunity for our students to try something new, it was an inclusive project which they could all be part of, and was simple enough to enable them to produce professional looking soaps which they were proud of. The concept  encouraged collaborative working, teamwork, awareness of others and respecting their choices. All in all it was a truly memorable project.” Attached is a PDF review of the Soapbox Enterprise Day and the Enterprise Soapbox kit which they used to raise funds. Innovative_Enterprise_review.pdf T

Toby Mildon, BBC Staff CPD Session.

On 9th September we were delighted to be asked to speak to staff at the BBC in New Broadcasting House. in London. Toby Mildon at the BBC arranges a monthly Staff CPD session after work and his database of 400+ staff is growing month by month. He enlists members of the Professional Speaking Association (PSA) to ensure the quality of the events and creates an Eventbrite page for each session. As a Fellow of the PSA I delivered my new FAVE keynote to the audience of excited BBC staff on a sunlit Tuesday evening in Central London and the audience seemed to really enjoy the session which challenged them to assess their Focus; Attitude, Value and Effort and consider their level of happiness using the Wheel of Life! Here’s what Toby said about the event: “Bernie is a phenomenal speaker with his humour and outlook on life shining through.  He has such great ‘stage presence’ and flawless story telling.  As a young lad, Bernie was a bit of a misfit and as he grew up taking on life’s challenges, he grew into an inspiring role model. Bernie is one of few men who I believe authentically inspires young people to harness their entrepreneurial spirit (as he does through his business, Innovative Enterprise).  Bernie delivered his talk to my BBC colleagues and everyone thoroughly enjoyed his FAVE keynote speech. He had us hooked from his first words and lit up the audience (at the end of a tiring day)”. Thank you Toby.    Here is Toby’s Soundcloud recording of the FAVE workshop for you to enjoy. H

Chatsworth Special School, LifeSkills

We delivered a great session on work-readiness with some of the KS4 students at Chatsworth High School and Community Colege in Salford on 20th May 2014. Three enthusiastic Barclays volunteers supported us with the LifeSkills materials on the day. The Tutor in support for the day said: “The day was really good thank you – you are very good and enthusiastic with our students and engage them well with your humour. I’m glad the volunteers had a great day too.   Hopefully we can work together and arrange something further in the future” H

Celebrating Success 2014; Furness Enterprise

4th June – evening Celebration event, Barrow in Cumbria. “Dear Bernie, I would like to thank you for taking the time to come to the Celebrating Success event yesterday.   The presentation was very inspirational and everybody is talking about FAVE, and how they are going to implement it.   The feedback from those attendees I had the opportunity to speak to, is extremely positive.      Thank you for coming to Barrow – and I hope to speak to you soon.” Val Robinson, Funding and New Start Manager, Furness Enterprise Ltd,  www.furnessenterprise.co.uk H

Manchester Health Academy

We delivered LifeSkills with 226 students in Manchester in mid May. Here are some statistics: Students: 226 / Year 7 and 8 / Girls 98: Boys 128 / 8 teachers / 6 volunteers from Barclays. “[The volunteers] were very supportive – working with groups, guiding discussions and activities. Very helpful to have other professionals working with students who have different poits of view. Images linked to dialogue in presentations were very useful for lower ability readers”. “Great facilitation, very enjoyable”. “Barclays staff and facilitator, Bernie, shared their work experiences with the students showing how working life can vary – very useful, highlighting that there’s not just one path” H

Barclays LifeSkills and Transformation Trust

Stretford High, Manchester. Sandra Smith-Brown: “Thank you for delivering Barclays Life Skills at  Stretford High School today. Both staff and sudents were really impressed with the high standard of content and the level of student engagement. We are looking forward to working with you again. Please pass this message on to the rest of the team.” Steve Leach, Manchester Creative & Media Academy. Once again thanks for all your efforts on Monday and Tuesday, the pupils really benefitted. Please see our Academy blog here for my write-up of the sessions you delivered. LifeSkills, various schools: Manchester. I’ve had an overwhelming amount of comments relating to Bernie this morning, and just wanted to share some with you: Ian Billcliff- Manchester Creative Academy on 23rd April“   Top Tip-Get someone who is an expert in delivering such sessions such as Andrew Bernard who was fantastic in delivering this session, which would have been chaos without him” Carl Wright- Manchester Creative Academy on 22nd April   “Bernie (Andrew Bernard) did a great job of delivering the sessions and keeping people involved and engaged” Craig Fegan- Stretford High School on 24th April   “I thought the structure of the lessons was really good and effective for the children, the host ‘Bernie’ was very good!   H

Ockendon Academy

“We had a really fun and interesting day doing the Soapbox challenge with the year seven’s last week.  The feedback we have received from them was all very positive.  Thanks for coming in and making another ordinary day at school a fun and enjoyable way to learn. ” A. Janganant, Learning Mentor. “We had a fantastic day here and everyone is still buzzing.” L. Johnson “We didn’t dislike anything! Great style, engaging and humorous. All the curriculum links and messages we needed were already there in the workshop. We had a great day, the students loved it and want to do it again!” LJ. H

Andy Smith, Hele’s School

We delivered a SoapScience workshop with the Year 10 Students at Hele’s School, Plymouth in March 2014. Andy Smith, Head of B&E and 6th Fom Tutor said: “Just a quick e-mail  to say thank you so much for your time and expertise during yesterday’s event. The feedback that I have received from the students has been really positive and showed that they all  thoroughly enjoyed the day (they also seem to smell better today!) Once again could I  convey our gratitude to you and Patrick and Callum for your input into making the day so interesting. We hope to work with you in the future.”

 H

Mrs C Butterworth, Kirkby Stephen Grammar School

This week we delivered our ‘Talking Balls’ workshop to KS4 Students at Kirkby Stephen Grammar School, Cumbria. The Leader of PSHE gave us this feedback: “I discussed the session with the lads on Wednesday. Here is a summary of the points raised. 1. Whilst they thought the session would be equally relevent for girls they appreciated the chance to be in an all male group. They have many female teachers in school and your personal experiences as a young man were things they were able to relate to. They also felt is was good to have an all male space in a classroom for a change. 2. They and I could see the link between taking responsiblity for your own health and taking responsibility for your own actions and decisions. Because of this the workshop was informative/educational and motivational. 3. They enjoyed the humour in the session and your direct approach and frankness about your own issues. Your delivery made it “fun”, “mint” etc and not embarrassing at all. 4. They, and I, would recommend the session to other schools. We would definately be interested in having you in school again if you were in the area.”

H

Youth Worker, Wigan Youth Zone

on 4th February we delivered a workshop on Business Creation and Deveopment at Wigan Youth Zone as part of the ‘Get a Job’ project working with young people 18+ who are looking for work. The young people worked together and developed their own products, considered their client groups, brand names, product features and marketing materials then stood up in front of the room to present their work after 3 hours. Many of the young people suffer from lack of confidence so this was a major achievement. The Youth Worker in charge of the sessions said: “I think the session is great. It’s a very kinaesthetic lesson,  just the kind of lesson that works well with our kind of young people. I liked your quick recap at the end of the lesson, referring back to the original objectives.  All the students are involved, making the soap and producing the boxes.I think the presentations needed a little work but I think they were just a little bit excitable at the time.I look forward to the next session for cohort 2.”

H

Centre for Leadership Performance

On 7th November 2013 we worked with 15 companies and 40 Young People who had applied for the Dream Placement scheme in Cumbria. We facilitated the workshop activity between Young People and potential placement employers. Here’s what the client had to say about our involvement afterwards: “I just wanted to say thank you soooo much. You really made the afternoon an enjoyable experience for the students – we got some cracking feedback from them and the companies. And I really enjoyed watching you work with them, especially the first ice breaking stuff, what a transformation in their engagement in just a few minutes – miraculous! Hope to work with you again soon!”

H

Make It Enterprise Challenge with Survitec

  Since 2007 we have designed and deivered all of the Manufacturing Institute’s MAKE IT Campaign workshops with a variety of manufacturers from all around the globe. The following came from the feedback we receive for the workshop we designed and ran for 12 NW Schools at Aintree on 16th October 2013 with the Manufacturing Institute’s Make It Team and Survitec – a maunfacturer of Safety Equipment.

• 100% of the pupils taking part in the day rated the Challenge as between “Excellent” and “Good” (51% marked “Excellent”, 43% marked “Very Good” and 6% marked “Good”)
• 99% of the pupils felt that the day had given them a better understanding of the types of jobs available within the manufacturing industry
• In total, the number of young people who said that “yes”, they would now consider a career in the sector rose from 42% at the beginning of the day to 68% by the end
• 83% of the teachers that attended rated the Challenge overall as “Excellent” with the other 17% rating it as “Very Good”
• 92% of the teachers felt that the day had definitely improved their pupil’s perceptions of careers within the sector with 8% feeling the day had somewhat improved perceptions
• 92% of the teachers indicated that they would now recommend careers in manufacturing to “all their pupils” and 8% would recommend it to the “High Achievers” upon their return to school
• 100% of the Survitec Group volunteers rated the Challenge overall as between “Excellent” and “Very Good” (57% marked “Excellent” and 43% marked “Very Good”)
• 100% of the Survitec Group volunteers also felt that the day had succeeded in improving the image of manufacturing to those pupils involved

Pupil quotes:

• “Manufacturing is fun and really enjoyable”
• “I really enjoyed thinking about what people need, and then creating it”
• “After today, I have been inspired”
• “I would work in manufacturing as I know more about it now”
• “Manufacturing seems to have a wide range of highly paid jobs”
• “I would consider a career in manufacturing because of today’s experience”
• “It wasn’t what I expected at all”
• “It was more fun than I thought it would be”

Teacher quotes:

• “Very enjoyable day. Excellent organisation and event. Thanks to Survitec crew for being there for us”
• “It was a great day for the pupils and staff – there should be more events like this”
• “I am confident that this event has opened the pupils eyes to numerous career prospects in manufacturing”
• “The pupils have really enjoyed today. It has given them an insight into the manufacturing industry and the career prospects withing”

Survitec Group volunteer quotes:

• “Clearly these young people found the event exciting and worthwhile”
• “Wonderful experience, enjoyed every minute and the youngsters were so enthusiastic and knowledgeable”
• “I had a great and rewarding day and think it should be brought to the Belfast site”
• “Good day. It would be great for this event to be run in Belfast too with the local schools”
• “Once again amazed at the excellent ideas that the year 9 students come up with”
• “What a great activity. I think everyone should attend this”

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Mandy Moorland, QKS, Cumbria

For the third time, we returned to Queen Katherine School and delivered Stock Market Challange for their Year 9 students. 220 students LOVED the full-day session and the profit made was an astonishing £ 162,000 from a starting sum of £15,000! Below is the client feedback we received. “The engagement with students was perfect and the style of presentation was spot on. For this event the message was what I was looking for and any future events I would liaise and we would tailor to suit target audience It was a fantastic day, students thoroughly enjoyed it. They loved the fast paced excitement of the day and all students were fully engaged and participated well (even the students that would not normally participate in a normal school day!)  The only thing I would change next time is maybe have more time at the end for students to add up their profit made (we would discuss this anyway when planning future events)”.

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Independent Girls’ School, Buckinghamshire

For five years, we have delivered SoapScience4YourSchool to a Year 10 group of students at one of the highest achieving Independent Girls’ Schools in the UK. Starting at 8:50am the day ends at 5:00pm after gruelling statistics, business developments, break-even analysis, market research and some AMAZINGLY creative products. Here is what the teacher in charge of the day said about this year’s event: “Innovative Enterprise’s presentation style is inspiring and inclusive, and rapidly draws in even those whose approach to regular lessons can be more sceptical. The management of the students is probably the best I’ve seen from anyone who is not a professional full-time teacher- the balance of excitement and containment is often something that outside speakers & others involved in schools liaison find challenging, but this was spot-on”.

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Norbury Manor B&E College, Croydon

Enterprise Soapbox at Norbury Manor Business & Enterprise College, Croydon A couple of years ago, Norbury Manor B&E School (NMBEC) bought 50 Deep Blue Soapbox kits for their Partner Primaries…this is a case study in their own words of how they used it as part of a linked-up Enterprise project with their Primary Partners: Norbury Manor Business and Enterprise College has been a specialist school for the past 8 years and in that time we have built a number of successful relationships with local primary schools to support them in the development of the enterprise curriculum in Key Stage 2. Part of this partnership involves staff at NMBEC running Enterprise Days for the students and staff from our 7 partner schools.  We have a “menu” of enterprise activities that are drawn from across the whole curriculum and we tailor each day to the needs of the primary school.  A typical day will be made up of 3 x 100 minute workshops selected from a range of 50 subject specific enterprise workshops we have written. The introduction of “Enterprise Soapbox” as an enterprise workshop within the Science curriculum area has proven to be hugely popular.  The students get to grips with the processes used in to make the soap and can learn to use simple laboratory equipment whilst undertaking a fun activity with a real application and a tangible outcome. There were classes of Year 6 students using the laboratory equipment and Enterprise Soapbox materials to produce bars of soap in time for Father’s Day ! The 2 key members of staff who ran this event at the college, Miss Sule and Mrs Muzenda have been impressed by the quality of the teaching materials and the ease with which they have been able to adapt their use for all Key Stages. The Logistics  – making it work in your school :

• The Yr 6 students were divided into 3 groups of approximately 22 students each.
• We set aside 100 minutes for each workshop and used 2 science teachers and 1 technician to run each session as well as having support from our primary colleagues.  While the soap is setting we make use of ICT facilities for making packaging and marketing materials.
• The students first received some basic health and safety instructions regarding the use of the laboratory and equipment before following a presentation given by one of our own teachers on the soap making process.
• Once it was time for the practical session, it was all hands to the pump but all students managed to produce the desired outcome i.e. their own bars of soap to take home !

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BUSCH Make It Enterprising Challenge March 2013

We designed and delivered a fantastic challenge for the Make It Campaign in March 2013 sponsored by Busch Vacuum Pumps. Many people may not know, but these pumps are in many factories that make food, drink, cars, clothes, packaging…the list goes on! Our challenge pitted the 12 teams against one another to design a Food Factory which makes either Ready Meals or a Multi-Pie Plant which makes either sweet or savoury delights! The brilliant teams made some amazing designs in 3D models, factory floor plans and great marketing…including the Pi Pie Factory, geddit!? Pi, maths, STEM and all that! Well, I found it funny. Anyway here’s what the students said:”There’s more to manufacturing than I thought”; “I didn’t realise manufacturing was so creative”; “I’ve enjoyed working in my team and I’ve had a positive exprience”. The votes are in: 97% rated the day as Excellent, Very Good or Good; 66% of students at the end said they would consider manufacturing as a career (up from 44% at the start); all Busch staff said it was Excellent or Very Good; 89% of Busch advocates felt that the day had completely succeeded in improving the image of manufacturing.   Finally a teacher said: “Thank you to everyone involved, these events are priceless to students”. We couldn’t have put it better ourselves!

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St Edmund Arrowsmith, Lancashire. March 2013

We deivered a half-day Interview Skills programe in Edmund Arrowsmith School near Wigan. Working with the 240 students in the Year 10 cohort, we worked with John Griffin to develop and deliver the workshop and gave some inspiration, advice and support in making the best of themselves. John said: “Thanks for the Interview Prep event yesterday. I thought it went very well and the pupils responded enthusiastically.” The manager of a local Government Pension Office who coordinated the local business people at the local Enterprise Investment Centre was keen to praise the students: “All students were a credit to themselves and to the school: they should all be proud of themselves!  All managers came into work today full of enthusiasm and praise for the event. There has obviously been some hard work input by both students and staff as the students were well prepared & well presented. All interviewers thoroughly enjoyed their time with the students and felt that they provided worthwhile and valuable advice to the young people. The students made the interviews run easily and smoothly by knowing what they wanted to say, being concise and focused on the task. It was commented upon that you have an excellent calibre of pupil. One of the managers thought some students were inspirational and all clearly knew what they wanted to do with their lives.” So I reckon we helped the school deliver a briliant result for their students!

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Eston Park Academy, Middlesborough, March 2013

Skills4Work was tailored to the needs of the school and delivered in Careers Week, we worked with Year 10 (180 students) over two days to enhance their skills, confidence and self/employment awareness. This is what the Work Related Learning Director said: “Good rapport with the students.  I liked the way the sessions were split up with students doing small activities.  The interviewing activity where they were in groups of 3 worked particularly well with both groups.”

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Little Ilford School

Workshops delivered on 8th and 9th February 2013 What did you like? Active student involvement, the presenters spoke in a student friendly manner and they linked explanations to everyday life and careers.  In particular, as soon as Bernie was informed about the school life skills, he immediately changed the focus of his presentation to the students by including the skills. Any further commenst you’d like to add? Both our students and teachers were totally engaged.  Planning was done for us, even the room layout and risk assessment.  Overall I could not have asked for more. Thank you very much.

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SIEMENS Make It Challenge Jan 2013

Congleton in Cheshire was the venue for the third annual SIEMENS Make It Enterprising Challenge which saw 12 schools plus two teacher teams challenge it out to see which was the best company on the day! Innovative Enterprise have designed all of the 33 manufacturer-sponsored events in the past 6 years of the Make It campagn and the SIEMENS challenge really stretches the students. Teams compete as manufacturers and instalers of electronic-drive equipment and have to choose a client project to install the equipment solution into – They could choose Rydz Theme Park, Health Haven Hospital, Tastefoods Factory or East Wing Airport – build a 3D model, specify their equipment, cost the solution, visit a customer agent, design some marketing campaigns and present it in front of 150 people! All in 4 hours! Students, teachers and SIEMENS staff were all impressed and the eventual winners, Loreto Grammar School for Girls, were worthy and impressive winners! 96% of students and 100% of teachers on the day rated it as Excellent or Very Good. The change in perception showed that at the start 49% and at the end 68% would consider a career in manufacturing – or 7 students in every 10 present would think about it as a career choice. Student feedback: I would love to have an opportunity like this again; there are a wide variety of manufacturing jobs – all exciting; It’s an exciting, developing industry. Teacher Feedback: Fantastic event that inspires the kids to think outside the box; Well organised and inspiring; A fantastic way of showing the importance of design

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Marton Primary, Cheshire.

“Thank you so much for the workshop last week. The children and staff loved it! I will complete the feedback form soon and send it on but I wanted to thank you for the super job you did – with a bad back! Definitely worth the money and was perfect for our DT and Enterprise Week! Thanks again!

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Blessed Trinity RC College, Dec 12 – Transformation Trust

“It was an aboloute pleasure to have [Innovative Enterprise] in our school. The feedback on your leadership was extremely positive and consistent from all the staff involved. The word soon spread and everyone has been talking about the soap science day with other year groups wanting to know when they can do it!”

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John Loughborough Sch, Nov 12 – Transformation Trust

“The workshop was a great learning experience for all students involved. It was well pitched with the right amount of fun, laughter and the serious message of entrepreneurship and science.”

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Wood Lane High School Special School, Nov 12 – SoapScience

“Thanks for all of your help in creating an unforgettable day for the students that really did teach them a lot. Your enthusiasm really drew the students in to the whole project and they are still talking about who was the best at making soap! We hope to be able to have you back in the future in a similar capacity. Even the staff had a great fun day!”

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Trinity School, Carlisle – various programmes

We have worked with Trinity since 2007 and one of their Assistant Heads had this to say: “We have been working with Innovative Enterprise now for several years.  Our global entrepreneurship week involves Years 7 – 9 taking part in a bespoke challenge for half a day. The enterprise themes Matt and Bernie deliver are great, and they certainly know their stuff.  They are able to customise each day to different age groups and continue to motivate and make every session seem like the first. I liked the way they mixed the groups right from the start – it takes the students out of their comfort zones and then gives them a task where they had to get on with it and work together. The diversity of activities was great.  It got the students to take risks and try new things.  You only had to look at 120 Year 9’s working in teams, staying focused for 2 hours and being able to stand up and present to the audience to appreciate how fantastic, helpful, supportive and professional they are. As always we are massively impressed once again.”

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NCEA, July 2012 – SoapScience

“A fantastic day. The kids and staff really enjoyed it.  It was nice to be able to relax knowing that you were going to take control of everything and we did not even have to be there”.

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Fulham Cross, Oct 2012 – Transformation Trust

“The girls had an amazing time and said it was the best ‘flexible’ day they had ever had. It was a well organised and executed day so many thanks for putting in so much effort”.

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George Heriot’s, Sept 2012 – SoapScience

“The two days went extremely smoothly and the excitement, enthusiasm and creativity shown by the pupils clearly demonstrated how successful it was. I really appreciate your excellent organisation, good humour and interaction with the pupils.”

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Sacred Heart Hammersmith, July 2012 – SoapScience

“I would like to thank you for an extremely professional experience from start to finish. Your can-do approach and willingness to be flexible to suit our needs was refreshing. It was like dealing with a really helpful colleague rather than an external organisation. Soap Science in particular was amazing: you gave our girls a real chance to shine and they loved it. Their teachers loved it. I would recommend you to anyone and look forward to the chance to work with you again.”

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West Lakes Academy, August 2012 – Summer Schools

“Thanks for making the week so easy for us”

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Preston College, May 2012 – Enterprise Kickstart

“I would just like to formally thank you for getting our Enterprise Week off to such a positive start. You clearly had the toughest job of the week i.e. getting several hundred young people engaged and thinking about a subject which they had no concept of, or desire to pursue, you managed to gain results way beyond my/our expectations! Although you did not see the full impact of your work, learners went to lessons with an open mind and a reflective demeanour. The guest speakers who followed you had a far easier job and they were able to build on the progress made in your initial session. In truth, many of the points made by you were merely supported and reinforced. Your messages were clear, concise and realistic. I cannot thank you enough.”

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Campsmount Tech College, Mar 2012 – SoapScience

“I can HIGHLY recommend Innovative Enterprise for facilitating school enrichment days. Y10 students loved their ‘Enterprise Soapbox’ day”

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Sir Thomas Boteler, Stock Market Challenge

“it went down well again, as I knew it would. Great product, well delivered!”

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Stanborough School, Feb 2012 – SoapScience

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Fort Vale, Jan 2012 – TMI event

After running another succesful event with The Manufacturing Institute, some comments from pupils included:

• “I have now found out more about the manufacturing industry and it seems fun”
• ”Planning, organisation and engineering – that’s why I’d work in manufacturing”
• “I’ve really enjoyed today’s experience”
• “I like working in a team and there are a lot of interesting jobs”

Quotes from teachers included:

• “A well organised representation of the manufacturing industry, I would recommend future participation from our school”
• “A good insight into manufacturing and a great team working opportunity for the pupils”
• “The day has been a clear success, thanks for your effort in preparing an enjoyable day”
• “Today has helped the curriculum come alive for the pupils”
• “Great event – well facilitated.  Really enjoyable according to the pupils as well”

Quotes from the sponsors – Fort Vale – included:

• “Today helps to change young peoples minds about manufacturing and express thoughts from experience”
• “A great way to show schools about Fort Vale’s need for apprentices and that the company is growing”
• “A great opportunity to improve the image of engineering and Fort Vale”
• “A very well organised day – extremely professional”
• “I believe the pupils perceptions were changed to a more positive image”

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