Two teams of Pocklington School Sixth Form students have successfully honed their business skills, to win awards at the Young Enterprise Regional Finals.

Team BOSH Bottle and Team Spocksz, went head-to-head against other schools from the Humber region, to compete for a place in the next stage of the competition. The Pocklington teams, involving 15 students in total, prepared business plans and a presentation for the nationwide business challenge.

Team BOSH Bottle who confidently presented a business plan to sell Carbon Neutral Water Bottles were the overall winner of the finals.  They also won the overall award for Teamwork, an excellent achievement with such a large team of 10 members.

Team Spocksz, a company with a business plan to sell socks made to high environmental standards, were also successful, winning the Customer Service prize for their presentation, trade stand and interviews.

Gareth Shephard, Head of Economics and Business Studies and Pocklington School’s Young Enterprise Coordinator said: “Every student who took part in the challenge learned valuable lessons from it. We had a large number of students involved this year, who worked very hard and their performance was excellent. It was a journey of tears, laughter and joy, but everyone worked with enthusiasm and they drove it themselves."  

He added: “All the students who took part learned some valuable lessons which they’ll take forward and will serve them well in the future. Everyone gained a great deal from the experience, including me.” 

The Young Enterprise scheme is a charity that empowers young people to harness their personal and business skills, and develop their communication, confidence, financial capability, initiative, organisation, problem solving, teamwork and resilience. Through support from local business community advisors provided by Young Enterprise, and former pupils of Pocklington School, students are able to make the connection between school and the world of work.

On winning the Customer Service prize, a member of Team Spocksz commented: “To win an award was a truly great feeling - knowing our teams hard work was recognised. I have learned so much from the Young Enterprise experience. I now know just how important organisation and time keeping is - skills that will be imperative throughout my future career.”

A Team BOSH Bottle representative said: "It was great to be able to represent the School this week at the Young Enterprise Regional Finals. The team are incredibly proud of the brand we have produced; we’re already developing the next set of bottles to be produced and sold, allowing BOSH bottles to stand out in the next phase of the competition. It’s been an incredible experience to develop leadership and team building skills, and as a team, we’ve been able to create a strong product that we believe can make an impact in the environmental market. We look forward to the challenges the next phase of the journey will bring."

For the next stage of the competition, Team BOSH Bottle will compete against other teams from the North of England. After updating their company report, they must deliver a presentation on Teams to a new set of judges from the world of business. Success here will take them to the national finals - we wish them the very best of luck!