Young Enterprise at BSCS: A recipe for success?

Photo of the board of directors of Phonic Farm.

Local accountancy firm Dunkley’s has partnered with Bradley Stoke Community School (BSCS) to launch a new programme for Sixth Form students.

The ‘Young Enterprise’ company programme runs throughout one academic year and enables students to make all the decisions about their enterprise, from deciding on the name and product to creating a business plan, managing the student company finances and selling to the public at trade fairs.

All this takes place with the support of a volunteer business adviser (BA) who brings a wealth of business knowledge and expertise. Dunkley’s marketing manager Nicole Crompton has stepped up to be the school’s advisor for 2017/18.

The company, made up of thirteen Year 12 students, started their enterprise last September. Over the first few months, the students have been making big decisions from company structure and company name to the product they are going to sell and their individual roles within the board of directors.

Phonic Farm logo.

The enterprise the students have formed, Phonic Farm, is a literary company which sells phonic inspired cookbooks and recipes to encourage children to learn whilst having fun. Each of their recipes link to a character and, in their newest product launch, some of the characters go on adventures to give the children an additional opportunity to learn and let their imaginations grow with a themed story. The group have chosen an animal theme for the books as they are supporting a local animal charity by giving a proportion of each sale’s profits to them.

During the first term, various milestones were achieved, such as deciding to produce a Christmas cookbook with accompanying festive cookie cutters for their first trade fair experience at St Nicholas Market in Bristol. This took place on a crisp Saturday morning in December. Despite the cold start, the company did extremely well selling over £130 worth of product, being placed third within the overall Young Enterprise company competition on the day.

Following this success, the company decided to continue down the recipe route and develop a set of recipe cards. To add a unique selling point, the students have developed character-based stories to add to the back of each recipe such as ‘Eli the Elephant’s Escape to the Science Fair’ and ‘Ali the Alligator’s Birthday Mission’. The recipe cards will be sold in a pick ‘n’ mix pack with a utensil and themed cookie cutter and were showcased at a second trade fair at The Mall, Cribbs Causeway on Saturday 24th February, where the students sold £70 of product and received very positive feedback about the unique qualities of their product.

The company is hopeful of progressing to the Young Enterprise area heats in March and, with any luck, the finals later in the year.

• Visit the Phonic Farm website at phonicfarm.weebly.com or the company’s Twitter feed at twitter.com/phonicfarm

Photo of the Phonic Farm stand at a trade fair held at The Mall, Cribbs Causeway.

Photo: 1 The board of directors of Phonic Farm. 2 Phonic Farm stand at a trade fair held at The Mall, Cribbs Causeway.

This article originally appeared in the March 2018 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine (on page 13). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

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