On Air Now Dave Sweetmore 3:00pm - 7:00pm
Now Playing Republica Ready To Go

Ashton students brave the Dragon's Den

Student pitch their ideas and put their debating skills to the test.

Students at Great Academy Ashton joined more than 600 students from over 50 schools to brave a 'Dragons' Den' in a national initiative.

The GCSE Business Studies students were taking part in the Deloitte’s 5 Million Futures Initiative to pitch ideas of their own and put their debating skills to the test.

The national debating programme, in partnership with Debate Mate, involved students showcasing their skills with the chance to win £1,000 seed funding for an innovative idea.

Two teams from the academy had to research into their subjects of interest, set pricing and formulate a balanced argument in anticipation for questions posed by the five members of the Deloitte team who were set for a virtual ‘Dragons’ Den’ style format.

Students pitched their ideas to the panel for a new app to support the mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham’s plans for an improved London-style transport network.

The app concept looked into how to make a seamless user experience from travel timetables, tickets to route recalculations.

The second team looked at options to improve access to digital technologies in support of disadvantaged children who require learning equipment and access to the worldwide web from remote locations.

Business studies student Kegan Jones said: “I was very fortunate to get the chance to take part. I thought our teams had some great ideas.

“We started off trembling with nerves, but as we began to settle into our pitch, we got much more comfortable with the debating style and gained confidence.”

The students, whose efforts were co-ordinated by Head of Humanities Lyndsey Leech, received positive feedback from the judges who remarked it was excellent to see a group who were in tune with local and national news to know what is going on in the political world and the new policies being introduced.

They also fed back to the teams that it was really innovative of them to tie-in their business pitch with Andy Burnham’s transport plans and the current issues in education, which demonstrated a good depth of research undertaken by the students.

Lyndsey said: “This national initiative is a fantastic opportunity for students to get involved with external activities which put them at the heart of a professional commercial environment.

“It also allows them to explore the subject in different ways rather than classroom activities with their peers.

“I feel it’s really important to provide students with a range of career options post school and our work with Deloitte Futures is only a small part.

“Students now have access to a range of career presentations and recent virtual visitors included a talk on law from local crown court judges.”

📰 Sign up to our newsletter ðŸ“°

Want to get regular round-ups of news in your local area straight to your inbox? Simply enter your email address and tick the box below. 

Newsletter

Read more from the Tameside Reporter

Click here for more of the latest news

Click here to read the latest edition of the paper online

Click here to find out where you can pick up a copy of the paper

More from Tameside Reporter

Weather

  • Mon

    13°C

  • Tue

    17°C

  • Wed

    17°C

  • Thu

    17°C

  • Fri

    16°C