Monday 12th November meant the start of National Enterprise Week.

At King James’s School the students got off to a flying start, with Year 10 students taking part in the ‘Make Your Mark Challenge’.

The theme for this year’s challenge was to ‘Make it pay in a globalocal way’ . Students were asked to think on a global scale and act at a local level, by identifying a local need or specific local target audience, and then developing a product or service which could have a far-reaching, global impact and also make money.

Five teams spent the day developing action plans for innovative ideas, which they presented in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitch to a panel of judges, which included Dianne Murray and Paul Marsh from GSPK.  Ideas included light bulbs made from recycled glass, a scheme to recycle plastic bags, and youth complex for Knaresborough which would have included a bowling alley and a cinema!

The winners of the event was a team from King James’s School, ‘Er-um’, who plan to work with musicians from Africa to promote their music in the UK. Profits will be earmarked for specific projects aimed at alleviating poverty in developing countries. They also hope to raise awareness and develop cultural links between the artists’ communities in Africa and Knaresborough.

Er-um will now compete in the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Final, which will take place on Friday 23rd November at Xscape in Pontefract.

Mr Blane
Head of Faculty of Business & Social Studies