Murray Park students get creative as they set up their own businesses

Young entrepreneurs have been learning more about what it takes to run a successful business as they provided entertaining games for fellow pupils.

Year 8 students at Murray Park Community School set up their own stalls offering fairground-style games as part of their ‘World of Work’ project in English.

As budding entrepreneurs, they were challenged to come up with a business plan for their own games-themed stalls, and eight lucky groups were then selected following successful sales pitches.

The stalls included a Jenga challenge, ‘welly wanging,’ a penalty shoot-out, the ‘Murray Park Olympics’ and an assault course which other pupils could enjoy between events on Sports Day.

They charged either 50p or £1 to play the games and all the money raised went to Cancer Research UK, a charity chosen by the students. As an added incentive, they kept a score board from the games and the winners got a £5 Amazon voucher.

The students said they enjoyed the experience of setting up and running their own business.

Lucas Morey said: “It’s been fun. I’ve learned you have to advertise more. I’ve found that more people come over when we are playing it rather than just sitting down.

“I think this is good as it gives people a chance to learn about business and dealing with money.”

Craig Lindley, Murray Park’s assistant head of English and Literacy, said: “I’m really proud of our students. I get a lot of enjoyment out of giving students as many experiences as possible that aim to be authentic and help them to develop skills that are useful in later life.

“English doesn’t always have to mean students are sat on chairs in classrooms – they have learned practical skills while seeing that how we choose to communicate with others will have a great impact on our lives.”

The project has also included practice job interviews with Toyota, with students writing cover letter applications for a mock role that has then led to interviews with staff from Toyota and a trip to the factory to see how they work in practice. Murray Park aims to continue with the project in upcoming years and has plans to grow it with other businesses in the local area too.