On the 25th of March 2010 the five members of Team Rise attended the end of year presentation of all the Young Enterprise businesses in the Lothians.

We were all pretty nervous of the unexpected during the journey and even more so as we pulled up to the Stuart’s Melville College Performing Arts Centre in Edinburgh.  There were 23 other businesses there from around Edinburgh and the Lothians.  We would not only be performing our presentation on the stage surrounded by all of them, but also the judges and many other adults involved.

As the evening went on however, we gained some confidence as we first won a silver plate for the ‘Best Human Resources Director', followed by third place for ‘Best Marketing Director’, a second place for ‘Best Production assisted by the Managing Director’ and a second place for ‘Best Sales Director’.

We were the 15th presentation and as we saw more teams it seemed all the more daunting to have to do it ourselves, however there was then a break to present more awards and to our absolute shock we were awarded a further two awards: a cup for ‘Best IT Director' and a trophy for ‘Best Business Idea’!  The company awarded the 'Best Company Award' would go onto the British final.  Here we managed to receive a third overall, which we were all very pleased with after our previous awards.

Altogether, the night was a huge shock in terms of our success for us all, and we therefore had a much better evening than any of us had imagined.  The Young Enterprise experience is something we have all benefited hugely from and we would recommend it to all S5 pupils next year looking for a definite challenge, and even to earn some extra cash!

Emma Lynas

Link Teacher: Colin Dempster
Business Advisor: Finlay Marshall

This weekend The Herald [20 March] and Sunday Herald [21 March] has a £3 off offer with Bright Red on SQA Past Papers.

The paper will also have their annual exam and revision guide. The guide aims to help you get the most from your revision programme.

Visit Bright Red Publishing and use promotion code Herald1 to take advantage of this discount.

The Big Bang: National Science and Engineering Awards

Last May Knox Academy entered a team of S2 students in the Young SET (Science, Engineering and Technology) Ambassadors Challenge, which was run in conjunction with Edinburgh University. The team won this event, beating schools from across the Lothians. The same team (Kelvin Craig, Gareth Evans, Conor McHugh, Gabby Jackson and Fraser Thomson) now in S3, then entered their project into the National Science and Engineering Awards, and they made it to the finals!

They went to Manchester last week to attend The Big Bang: UK Young Scientists' and Engineers' Fair. This was the exciting setting for the finals of the National Science & Engineering Competition, where 240 teams and individuals with the best projects from all over the UK were invited to showcase their work to over 17,000 visitors, including students, journalists, celebrities and VIPs.

Judging took place on day one of The Big Bang - and the team had to present their project to two judging panels, and day two ended with a glitzy and prestigious awards ceremony where winners of the National Science & Engineering Competition will be announced. Although the team from Knox Academy didn't win, they were awarded a "Highly Commended", which was fantastic as there was a Winner, a Runner-Up and three Highly Commendeds for each category.

This was a massive achievement for the Knox Academy team, and a fantastic experience for them to compete and win an award at such a high level. Congratulation to them all!
 

S3 Business Management classes are currently taking part in "Make Your Mark with a Tenner" which gives pupils the opportunity to take part in a well supported, real life, exciting enterprise activity which both compliments and enhances the existing enterprise curriculum.

In the past this competition has demonstrated that it not only builds on enterprise capabilities but also improves pupils’ financial understanding and risk taking skills. What’s more, because this is all about social enterprise, pupils begin to learn about socially conscious ways to make money for good causes.

Pupils need to show enterprising spirit and make as much profit as possible in a way which benefits their community.

Exposure to real enterprise activities gives pupils a taste of what running a real venture could be like and this alone can tip many young people into seriously thinking about more enterprising activities.

One of Enterprise UK's entrepreneurial ambassadors, Sean Geddes from Domino's, visited the Business Education Department on Wednesday 10 March at lunchtime. There was much enthusiasm for the project with a full classroom of pupils attending.

All pupils who take part in the competition will receive a certificate outlining the skills they have developed and the winning team will win some start up capital and support from a business mentor to help them develop their entrepreneurial ideas.

For further information on the project visit the Make Your Mark with a Tenner website.

After hearing our success on BBC 5 Live, The Edinburgh Evening News contacted the school to see if they could do a feature on the Knox Academy Glee Club.

Two reporters attended one of our rehearsals and spoke to myself, Mr Campbell, and 4 pupils from S2 - S6.

An excellent article featured in the Evening News on Saturday 6th March 2010 can be viewed below: