Baked - Cake with a cause 

Year 7 students from Worthing High School took part in a business enterprise event called BAKED on the 6^th December. They arrived first thing in the morning in their preselected teams of 10 and were introduced to their nominated Business Partners who supported their teams throughout the challenge. The Business Partners were a group of West Sussex based business leaders and owners from many differing professions and industries including, Prosperon Networks, Nay Nay’s Salon, Always Possible, ETI, Tipton Marketing, Pixel Internet, The Orchard Café, Santander bank, Seriously Sorted, Fresh Egg, White Box, Worthing College, Bald Designs, Care UK, Gauntlet Price, HM Revenue and Customs and Clean Cut gardening. ‘The students were a credit to the school and were actively questioning their own assumptions and learning loads about their own abilities to innovate and collaborate.’ Richard Freeman CEO of Always Possible 

The day ran as a partner event with Lauren Roffey who left Worthing High in 2002 and now owns a café in Worthing called Baked. She has a passion for entrepreneurial activity and chocolate brownies!

The students were welcomed and attended individual workshops which included: Finance, Production, Design, Leadership and Marketing. They then feed back to the team so everyone knew what each other’s roles and responsibilities were. The teams then set about their task to plan, design, create and sell a cake showing the judges their ability to work together and to create a viable business.

‘I found the whole experience extremely rewarding and was really proud of the creativeness from all the students. They are all really talented individuals - many of them clearly have a good grasp of business and will be great leaders in the future.’ Mark Schools of HMRC.

During the course of the day the judges looked at every aspect of their businesses and selected the finalists who then did a sales pitch to a panel of experts. It was hotly contested and Team 20 (Cakes R Us) won. Alice Thompson from Year 7 student and from the winning team said; ‘I really enjoyed the day and I now know what it is like to run a business, we had to work really hard and we all had our jobs to do. Luke Brice from Clean Cut Gardening was our Business Partner and he really helped us succeed.’.

‘I think Worthing High is doing a phenomenal job teaching core values to young people, whilst also building resilience and self-motivation.’ Naomi Oliver Owner of Nay Nay’s Salon

‘It was great to step outside of the everyday business environment and work with such a fantastic group of children for the day. I really enjoyed getting to know them, helping them explore their different skills and bring these into the business enterprise challenge. It was so interesting to see the students grow in confidence throughout the day and all the different personalities and skill-sets coming together. You have a hugely talented group of children at the school, many of which you can already see are really passionate about certain subjects and personal interests. Given that they’re only just at the start of their high school careers, it’s very exciting to think what they might bring to the world of business in the future!’ Nicky Moody Project Director of Fresh Egg

‘I am so pleased the day went so well. Having the whole year group engaged in such an ambitious task was a challenge but thanks to the support of the local Business Partners students were able to flourish. Worthing High School is really grateful for having such a positive business support network for its student’s employability progression and entrepreneurial experiences.’ said Phil Dean-Business Partnership and Careers Manager at Worthing High School.

Contact details:

Karen Hayler, Business Development Manager, Worthing High School

01903 229275 email khayler@worthinghigh.net