Pupils meet ‘The Dragons’

Pupils in the ‘Make it - Enterprising Challenge’; a competition designed to test their entrepreneurial ability

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Yesterday, 13 and 14 year old pupils from several schools in the area had a chance to ‘meet the dragons’ in the ‘Make it Enterprising Challenge’; a competition designed to test their entrepreneurial ability.

The competition took place at the Norton Grange Hotel & Spa in Castleton, where students discovered how to make it in manufacturing. Working in teams, the youngsters set out to discover if they have got what it takes to work in the high-tech world of modern manufacturing, when they competed for two trophy prizes.

The task involved setting up their own mini-manufacturing businesses and designing, building and marketing a new 'Multi-Liquid' cleaning product and dispenser for a specific customer group of their choosing.

It is part of a series of themed challenges which The Manufacturing Institute is supporting through its 'Make It' campaign. This aims to attract the brightest and best new talent into manufacturing by promoting the sector as an exciting and rewarding career option for young people.

The teams were left to organise themselves and organise themselves into specific roles such as design, leadership, production, finance and marketing. They were provided with basic materials and left to get on with it under the watchful eye of the ‘dragons’ comprising of a team of senior managers from the challenge organisers, McBride’s.

To add a sense of fun, two teams of teachers also had to work on a project and their efforts met with good-humoured comments and words of ‘not so helpful criticism’ from their pupils.

We spoke to Alan Birchall; Logistics Controller from McBride’s who, in true Duncan Ballantyne spirit was one of the ‘dragons for a day’. He said: “I was amazed by the enthusiasm of all the pupils taking part. In a way, it is unfortunate that we have to pick a winner as all of them have worked so hard and have really taken on this challenge.”

He said that he and his fellow-judges were really looking for good team-working and decision-making rather than individual ‘stars’.

Jennifer Waters and her classmate Chloe from Cardinal Langley School admitted to us that they were apprehensive about meeting the ‘dragons’ after their break for lunch but said that the day had been hard work, good fun and that they had learned a lot from the experience.

Stephen Melia from the Manufacturing Institute said that the real purpose behind the competition was to introduce the manufacturing industry as a wide and varied career choice calling for a wide variety of skills, knowledge and expertise. “We aim to create a sea-change of opinion about the sector in general which is not always seen as a glamorous career-choice.” he told us.

His words were echoed by Stuart and Chris, two brand-managers from McBride’s who said that the perception of manufacturing was that it was a ‘dirty job comprising of repetitive tasks. They said that manufacturing was a £200 billion pound industry yet awareness of its importance and in the choice of careers that it offered was often underestimated. They stressed McBride’s commitment to the competition which had involved some of their most senior management team.

Schools from across North Manchester took part including Crompton House, Cardinal Langley, Middleton Technology School, St Anne’s Academy and Siddal Moor Sports College.

In the afternoon session, teams faced a grilling from the ‘dragons’ and the two winners were finally announced. The Radclyffe School from Oldham took first prize WITH ‘Pulse’; an innovative gel designed for use by athletes after training sessions instead of traditional shower gel,

Runners-up were the team from Middleton Technology School who designed a colourful, turtle-shaped soap aimed at the children’s market. Both schools will now go through to the regional heats.