Social Enterprise Takes Off in Yorkshire and Humber
Education Leeds (an Education Business Partnership, EBP) in conjunction with Leeds City Council run a successful social enterprise programme involving young people from the age of six.
Young people receive support from the Enterprise Ambassadors who help set up their enterprises. The programme is part of a whole school approach to enterprise, using social enterprise as a vehicle to develop the right skills, knowledge and attributes in young people.
Now in its second year, the programme is being rolled out across the Yorkshire and Humber region and involves forty high schools. The programme is funded through Yorkshire Forward. The young people are actively engaged in their learning as they see themselves as ‘real’ entrepreneurs and can see the relevance between the work they do in school to the skills required in business.
Schools involved in the programme have started to see the benefits through increased attendance and improvements in behaviour and engagement.
The social enterprise programme enables the young people to gain the Wider Key Skills qualification, equivalent to 2 GCSE Grade B’s. These are Improving Own Performance, Working with Others and Problem Solving. Young people use the evidence from the running of their social enterprise to support their work and build up a portfolio.
Two young people have since gone on to set up their own businesses whilst still studying and are receiving support from Business Link.
One social enterprise, the Glassroom, were winners of the Leeds Social Enterprise programme in 2008. They went on to win the National Enterprise Network Award for Social Enterprise and the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Award for Social Enterprise in Education. The Glassroom use recycled glass to make products such as plates, bowls and jewellery. The business continues to go from strength to strength with its current founders recruiting and training new ‘staff’ to ensure its future sustainability. Profits from this not only benefit the school’s global community but have also been used to set up two other social enterprises in the school.