Horsham students take over Crawley market

Forest School in Horsham was one of five schools taking part along with Ifield Community College, Holy Trinity, Thomas Bennett, St Wilfrids, all from Crawley.

The company arranged for the market in Queens Square Crawley to be available for students to run their own stalls for the day on July 16.

The young entrepreneurs displayed their stock, decided their pricing strategy then spent the day selling their wares. Each school had 2 stalls, each with five students and one Barclays employee to guide and support them.

The event was organised by Claire Pratley from the Corporate banking team in Crawley and assistant branch manager Ritchard Burrows.

Claire said: “The aim of the event was to help young people to develop their financial skills and to improve their understanding of the business world.

“They were amazing on the day really getting into the spirit of the event by engaging with shoppers and working hard to maximise sales by adjusting their pricing and building in innovations such as buy one get one free.”

Ritchard Burrows said: “This event could not have taken place without the great support from Crawley council and Alfredo Mendes, town centre manager, they waived the cost of the market square and the stalls and gazebos. We also had great support from local businesses including Go Ape and Ultimate Lazer games who provided excellent prizes for the most profit made and also for the best run stall.”

Mrs Laura Ward, Community and Enrichment Manager at Forest took part in the event supporting the stallholders from the school, she said: “We are very pleased to have been involved in the Barclays Enterprise event. It was a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to put into practice their business experience and enterprise skills in a real life situation.

It was a great day, fun, well organised and ultimately supporting such a worthy cause. Barclays should be congratulated for helping young people to develop their entrepreneurial skills.”

Students from Holy Trinity school were the winners of the Barclays young entrepreneur award making almost £500 profit n their stalls. They won 10 tickets to Go Ape – the new Forest adventure centre opening soon in Tilgate Park. The teachers who supported the event on the day also benefitted as they received four tickets to Cirque du Soliel donated by Barclaycard.

Ifield community college won the judges award for the best run stall, winning 20 tickets to Ultimate Lazer Games.

In total £2,065 was raised on the day and Barclays agreed to match the total and donate it to St Catherine’s Hospice so a total of £4,130 was given to the charity.

Caroline Burley, Head of team for Barclays Corporate in Sussex, and one of the judges of the best run stall said: “Every young person who took part in this challenge should be proud of what they achieved, they were a credit to their schools and it gives me a lot of confidence in the future to see how they took to the task they were set.

“This event proves that young people have the enthusiasm for business that will be needed to ensure that the local economy continues to flourish.”