Wirral Hospitals’ School Enterprise Week

Artsmark Platinum, Wirral Hospitals’ School, is a small school setting for children and young people who are unable to attend mainstream school and have been referred through medical services. 

They firmly believe in preparing their young people for the next stages in their education and life. Therefore, skills related to enterprise are essential as they cover aspects of financial literacy, collaboration, problem solving, time management, communication, leadership and most importantly creativity.

Building on Sir Peter Jones’ 2012 concept of giving students a small amount of money to re-invest, the school launched their own ‘Fundraise for a Fiver’ in 2015. For one week they collapse the timetable every afternoon and, following a clear theme and instructions, the students create their own mini-business. On the Friday they showcase their goods and services to invited guests from local businesses and their wider school community.

At its heart the aim of the week is to create environments where the students can expand their cultural capital and showcase their individual talents and expertise. Wirral Hospitals’ School have used the seven quality principles to guide their planning.

Striving for excellence and innovation. New ideas and a legacy of increased fundraising every year!

Being authentic. They do things for real! Real money is made by selling real products and services.

Being exciting, inspiring, and engaging. Every year they choose a different theme. For example: 

• Love your… a celebration of everything the community may love. 
• Paxton reunites the past… re-use and re-sell
• Costa del Paxton… the school became a holiday resort

Ensuring a positive and inclusive experience. The students have ownership of the role they play in the week. They are in groups where they can showcase their talents. The groups incorporate the following areas of skill and interest: animals, cooking, crafts, entertainment, design, sport, service industries such as hair & beauty, gardening and journalism.

Actively involving children and young people. Students plan with the staff, take on leadership roles and give feedback and next steps are always shared. 

I used a lot of talent and skills.

Please can we do it twice a year!

It was a challenge but I loved it!

Enabling personal progression. Year 10 and 11 students have the opportunity to take on leadership roles such as the Managing Director (MD) or the Financial Director (FD) of their group. Becoming an MD or FD is also seen as an aspirational goal within the project. 

Developing belonging and ownership. Their young people are particularly isolated from the communities due to their physical and mental health. As an increasing amount of their social time is spent online in the isolation of bedrooms, it is essential that the school provides opportunities for social communication, not only with their peers but also the wider world. This project ticks all of those boxes. 

By monetising young people’s skills and talents Wirral Hospitals’ School is giving them a real life flavour of what it’s like to run their own business. By having creativity at the centre of a work-related project the school is modelling how important creativity is for the workplace. This project encapsulates the concept of ‘if you see it, you can be it’. What the school sees during Enterprise Week are young people thriving and working beyond previous expectations that they may have had placed upon them.

Find out more about how Artsmark works in specialist settings. If you would like to connect with other Hospital Schools, download our Artsmark Schools list, or contact the Artsmark team to be put in touch.