Future entrepreneurs to enter LionHeart’s Den

Lionheart Challenge

Three hundred pupils from 30 schools from across Greater Manchester will be facing their final LionHeart challenge set by Greater Manchester Police, including Cardinal Langley R.C. High School and Matthew Moss High School.

The LionHeart project is about involving students and encouraging them to develop their inner-entrepreneur while helping police to engage with young people in new and innovative ways.

Each team is mentored throughout the business challenge by businesses and experienced police officers both from divisions across Greater Manchester and the Serious Crime Division.

The final is being held at GMP’s Force head quarters and will involve thirty teams of 10 year 9 and 10 students who will be asked to develop their ideas around a youth version of the current GMP app complete with how it would work, what it would look like, a marketing strategy and a financial plan.

The teams will then enter a ‘dragon’s den’ style scenario where they will be asked to pitch their product to a panel of judges. The judging panels will include senior officers and professionals from The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Glasgow School of Art and The Chartered Institute of Marketing.

For the second year running GMP has worked with project organisers to tailor an activity which challenges children’s preconceptions about crime and how they think their peers want to be communicated with by the police.

The funding for this work has come from GMP’s payback scheme where officers working under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 take money and ill-gotten gains from criminal to give back to community projects and initiatives such as this one where police can work to break down barriers with young people.

Detective Superintendent Tony Creely, who oversees the project, said: "Schoolchildren get the chance to meet and work with police officers face to face.

"The student’s impressions of the police are often shaped by what they hear or see in the news, or their limited dealings with officers on patrol in uniform.

"Understandably, these experiences can form natural barriers for children, but this work enables the barriers to be broken down on both sides and gives us an opportunity to learn more about their views and how they think we can best communicate with people their age."

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, who will be opening and closing the day, said: "Each team has worked exceptionally hard in rising to the challenges they have been set throughout this process.

“They have pulled together to come up with some very innovative ideas about how we should be reaching out to and communicating with the younger generations of our communities.

“These children are perfectly placed to provide a fresh perspective and I’m looking forward to seeing the solutions they come up with during the final challenge today.”

The top two winning teams will go through to the national challenge final which will take place at Lancaster Castle in November this year.