Dragons breathe life into ideas presented by Vauvert’s Year 6
LOCAL business dragons took up residence in Vauvert this week deciding whether to invest in the enterprising young minds of the school’s Year 6 cohort.
The Dragons’ Den contest is held annually, giving pupils the opportunity to work to a brief and develop an idea with the aim of eventually presenting it – crucial skills in the business community and modern life.
Deputy head teacher Nicki Wilbraham explained the rules.
‘Each group is allocated approximately 10 minutes to make their pitch. They will ask for a quantity of money to buy the stock for their product, in the region of £25 to £60.
‘The dragons can then discuss the pitch and decide whether to invest as a group or whether there is a sole investor who will back the product.
‘Ultimately, our aim is for the children to experience a little of what it is like to work to a brief and present and develop an idea as professionals would have to – vital life skills. Raising funds for their Jersey trip is a huge bonus too.’
Every year the children go on a four-day trip off-island and all children are encouraged to take part. The school tries to subsidise the cost as much as possible.
Dragon’s Den is one such idea.
Under the Guernsey Big Picture Curriculum, learning about the world of work and developing enterprise skills is strongly recommended.
Vauvert has brought in the help of KPMG’s Linda Johnson and her team, who have been working with the children tracking profit and loss, studying pricing and how to break even.
This is supplemented further by numeracy and literacy lessons focusing on how to write a report and develop presentation skills.
Presenting their Santa’s Sack business model, Nirav Bhat, 10, Jake Le Prevost, 11, Millie McMeechan, 10, Hollie Archenoul, 11, and Monty Furniss, 10, managed to secure investment beyond their expectations.
‘We were very nervous before going in,’ said Hollie.
Millie agreed: ‘As soon as you got in there and they said hello it was all right. They were really nice.’
Monty added: ‘My dad was actually in there.’
Nirav said: ‘We managed to get £10 more than we asked for. We asked for £50 and we ended up getting £60 because there were three dragons that split the cost.’
‘I handed out the bags to each of the dragons so they could have look like they do on TV,’ said Jake.
Nirav added: ‘One them said they were really into the product, which means they wanted to invest, which was good.’
