In National Enterprise Week 2005, we began forging strong links with local businesses and community through talks and breakfasts. We were involved with Outposts Ltd and a number of other Somerset schools in developing a project which will see a party of 20 Somerset students traveling to Peru in 2007. We were putting together this team of yr 10 students to engage in community and commercial activities to raise money and awareness of the plight of street children living around the ancient capital of Peru, Cuzzo.
We set up Taunton Enterprise Network with 5 other local schools St. Augustine’s, Ladymead, Castle, Heathfield, Courtsfield and Kingsmead. We were able to share good practice and reconfirm our desire to work together in delivering high quality enterprise education to the students in Taunton.
We have lots of internal Enterprise Challenges including Conference Day Programme, Enterprise in Action, Project Business, Playing for Success, Masterclass, Rapid Response Challenge, Work Skills, Entrepreneur Skills, Going for Profit.
We were given the Project Business Award 2005 & 2006 for Somerset for all our efforts to promote enterprise.
As for Taunton Chamber of Commerce, the school is a member so as to reflect its interest in the local business community. Since December 2007, we have a place on the Executive Committee to enable an active part in promoting local enterprise as well as the students work. Becky Reid (student) won annual Chamber of Commerce bursary for best Business Studies GCSE student.
By National Enterprise Week 2006, our enterprise agenda was absolutely packed. We focused on developing international links on multiple levels: in communication with schools in Peru, Norway, Papua New Guinea and links with Peru, China and France.
We explored a project to see if we could develop an ePal project with each of these schools before going on to develop a Trading Local Goods scheme with them.
Last year we ran four major projects in our five main feeder primaries including the Primary Video Project. Primaries have each been given their own digital camcorder to produce ‘raw footage’ of some event in the school year. This footage is then edited, scored and titled in our school’s own digital studio by year 6 students, their teacher and our media technician to produce a high quality DVD which the primaries may sell to their parents. We will be having a showing of the videos produced later this term.
Bishop Fox’s in collaboration with Outposts Ltd ( www.outposts.co.uk ) formed Somerset Overseas, a group that seeks to give Somerset students the opportunity to go on expeditions to destinations around the globe that are off the beaten track. Our first expedition to Peru was successfully completed this summer. There were 23 students
from 5 Somerset secondaries who trekked through the Andes, spent nights on a wooden platform in the Amazon rainforest, visited Cusco & Machu Picchu. The group also spent a few days working with Alcides Jordan, who has been working with abandoned children around Cusco. He has set up a facility for these children called Azul Wasi where these young people are cared for and educated. We were able to decorate and help with the purchase of materials for new buildings at this growing concern.
The students returned to the UK in late August after the trip of a lifetime, determined to go back to this most amazing country.
The collaboration goes on with Outposts and we are preparing for more expeditions in the future. Our plans include South Africa in 2008, Tibet & Nepal in 2009, China 2010 & Russia in 2011! Then perhaps back to Peru in 2012. The expeditions are designed for Year 11 students following the completion of their GCSEs. This means that it is the current Year 11 who are going to South Africa. We have 46 students from 7 Somerset secondaries signed up, including 5 from Bishop Fox’s. The current Year 10 will be offered places on the Tibet & Nepal trip sometime in the Spring term.
The school has maintained its link with the Handan Languages School in China. It was forged in the Whitsun holiday earlier this year. A number of local groups including Taunton Deane Borough Council have expressed an interest in supporting the school’s link with the aim of extending it to include others in the local community.
May 2006 saw our first visit to Lisieux, Normandy in France. Lisieux is our twin town! In 2007, another party of Year 10 students made a trip to our twin town to visit local businesses there.