Hugh Myddelton Social Enterprise School Day
On Wednesday 19th July, the year 5 students (now year 6!) of Hugh Myddelton Primary School got stuck in to a day of learning all about social enterprises and how businesses can do good!
The packed schedule of activities was design and facilitated by Better Space, one of Islington Councils affordable workspaces which supports local residents to start and grow businesses as well as get into sustainable, meaningful employment. Better Space is part of City, University of London; a partner and local Clerkenwell neighbour – more about Better Space’s current opportunities below!
The day kicked off with a morning workshop led by Social Enterprise Academy, who run programmes to engage and develop social enterprises with students in schools around the country.
What do you care about?
The session included lots of activities to get students thinking about the social and environmental causes they care about. One exercise involved debating questions such as ‘Is homelessness or littler/pollution more important?’, which encouraged students to reflect on their values and communicate their views and opinions with one another.
We learnt that the students care about a broad range of topics – particularly pollution, animal protection/conservation, crime, racism and inflation.
Business Skills
After breaktime, the class learnt what a Social Enterprise was and how businesses could use their money to improve people’s lives or tackle environmental issues. In order to generate money and resources to do good, the students participated in a selling competition!
Rosie, Zey, Leyla and Akram dazzled the class with their pitches for some everyday products, including sunglasses!
Inspired by the drive to make a change to the causes that matter to them, and armed with their new business skills, the class worked in teams to design some social enterprises that they could run themselves! These included bake sales, fixing old/used laptops and donating them to charities and growing vegetables to give to those in need.
Meeting Social Enterprises and Founders
Fuelled by lunch, for the afternoon, the class headed over to Better Space, at 127 Farringdon Road, for a tour of the coworking space and to meet 3 social enterprise businesses!
First up, Shade the UK (part of Love Design Studio) showed students examples of the impact of climate change on building design and invited them to consider how we could protect different groups of vulnerable members of society.
Secondly, BfB Lab’s Head of Product - Nabeena Mali, explained how their game Luminova uses technology and game design to improve young people’s mental health! The students did some individual work reflecting on their own mental health before getting creative in designing engaging characters for the game!
Finally, the brilliant Filip Hinzo, founder, and Director of Octophin Digital, ran a session to show how software developers can help organisations to protect the environment and support conservation projects with engaging and interactive tools.
Better Space is inviting parents of Hugh Myddelton students who may be exploring self-employment opportunities to attend an Open Day next Wednesday 27th September. The event is free, and the list of activities and opportunities can be found here on Eventbrite.
Click here for flyer/schedule!
What next?
If you’re interested in these projects or in finding out how you can get involved in similar initiatives around social entrepreneurship in Islington, please get in touch! betterspace@city.ac.uk