You’re hired! Secondary students have a taste of business success

Pupils from schools and colleges across the South West came to pitch ideas as part of Enterprise Day
Enterprise Day March 2026 - winning team from Torquay Academy and student ambassadors

You’re hired! Secondary students have a taste of business success

Pupils from schools and colleges across the South West came to pitch ideas as part of Enterprise Day

Teaching lifelong skills for workplace success are at the core of the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½â€™s activity. 
So it was fitting for lecturers to welcome more than 100 secondary students for a taster event on business and marketing – culminating in an Apprentice-style pitching session.
The Enterprise Day saw students in years 10-12 from across the South West arrive at the city centre campus ready to research, design, develop and cost a mental health app.
Schools students in Rolle Marquee
Secondary students pitching during Enterprise day
Enterprise Day March 2026 winning team from Torquay Academy
Supported by University business experts Dr John White, Dr Christopher Agyapong Siaw and Dr Sarah Preedy, the students were tasked with developing an innovative app concept to attract users and impress their peers.
Students had to ‘sell’ their final product to the other teams – who each had two tokens to spend on their favourite – before pitching to a panel of expert judges, including Claire Wallace from the University’s in-house entrepreneur support service, The Cube, and Wiesiek Zienkiewick, Economic Development Officer from Plymouth City Council.
The winner was decided by the votes and tokens they received, with the Profit Players team from Torquay Academy named the victors.
Alongside the event for students, Dr Jasmine Kelland and Dr Ben Siu ran a roundtable session with teachers on artificial intelligence – sharing the latest research to ensure it can be embedded into teaching and learning for the future.

It was a really fantastic day with a buzz that only comes from having groups of talented, enthusiastic people all in one place.

The event was a real taster of what life can be like here at the uni – exploring real-life tasks, working with leaders in their field and meeting new people.  
As a University, we also have an increased focus on mental health and wellbeing, so the task wasn’t just randomised – it’s absolutely the sort of thing our academics are working on every day.
It was great to see such positive feedback from students and teachers alike. We’ll be holding another event in October, so really looking forward to welcoming schools then too.

Becky TaylorMrs Becky Taylor
Outreach Manager for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business

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