Year 11 Students Pitch Business Plans

This week, year 11 BTEC Enterprise students at Cowes Enterprise College have been delivering their business pitches, as part of their BTEC course. 

From September students have been working on their business plans for an idea that will meet the needs of the local area.  The plans involved researching at least three ideas before choosing an idea to take forward and pitch.  Students looked at a range of areas for their business plans including marketing, communication, finance, risk management and customer service.  Students have been working on branding by designing logos and corporate communications for their small business.  They have also developed their ideas by building models and prototypes. 

Ideas were wide ranging and included bakeries, doggy day care, nurseries, cafes, a drone delivery service, hair and nail bars and many others. 

Part of the pitch assessment involves students demonstrating a range of effective presentation and communication skills. The pitch day is an accumulation of months of hard work and all the staff involved with the pitches were very impressed with the students and how they articulated their ideas confidently. 

Much thought had gone into the layout and planning of building space …there was clear evidence of local research and how to promote the new enterprise.

Student A presented their enterprise activity with confidence and enthusiasm – he has a clear understanding of his target audience and the aims of the project.

Student A has given lots of consideration to the customer experience and how they will respond and communicate with customers.

Has considered a range of business decisions and ideas for the nursery. 

Shown knowledge of the industry and appropriate action to take.

Has shown additional development of ideas in terms of a business plan and café design.

Excellent supporting materials and kits to show the idea and this really brought the idea to life.

Student A was clear about her unique selling points and has some great ideas about how to set it up.

A sound financial plan was presented by Student A who gave justified reasons for his business decisions.

A clear understanding of the business idea, the target market needs and how the business idea meets these needs.

The BTEC delivery team at Cowes Enterprise College have recently had their great work recognised by the Lead Verifier who assessed the quality of our BTEC programs across the whole school. The report was wholly positive with the following good practice identified:

‘The centre fully supports their learners to ensure they received a rounded and well-balanced education programme using BTEC qualifications. Delivery teams were seen to be enthusiastic, professional and knowledgeable about their subjects and were keen to show best practice in BTEC requirements of quality assurance. Some excellent practice was seen where BTEC staff had written detailed articles about BTEC delivery at the centre in the annual CPD journal for the academy’. 

Cowes Enterprise College are proud to offer a diverse and varied curriculum that educates students for life. Our BTEC Enterprise key stage 4 course offers students the opportunity to gain key skills and competency development.