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St Angela’s Ursuline School pupils triumph at Legacy Careers awards event

Newham school pupils create top business case for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

  • Legacy Careers event praises pupils from Newham for their business proposal
  • Pupils went head to head with three other schools to be crowned victorious
  • Project uses the jobs being created at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to teach students how to better understand their future career options

St Angela’s Ursuline School from Newham came out the victors when pupils from four east London schools went head to head presenting business plans for a new product for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to a panel of industry experts in the culmination of the Legacy Careers project on Tuesday 2 December. A number of individual pupils also shone through at the awards event, winning three of the eight awards up for grabs.

The event, which took place at Stratford Circus, saw four local schools, including St Angela’s Ursuline School from Newham, Walthamstow Academy from Waltham Forest, Connaught School for Girls from Waltham Forest and Skinners Academy from Hackney present their unique ideas for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to business experts from the London Legacy Development Corporation, house builders Taylor Wimpey, a local entrepreneur and training organisation Future Foundations as well as an auditorium full of their fellow pupils.

St Angela’s ‘Cannonball Chaos’ team presented their ‘Fusion – International Food Hut’ business proposition as a way of continuing the legacy of the London 2012 Games by having international chefs from around the world cooking up food that will celebrate the diversity of east London. In the team’s proposal, Fusion would be located in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in order to attract people from the local area to the Park to experience a multi-cultural street food market. The judges were so impressed with the proposal they were voted the winners and were praised for their preparation, presentation skills and for presenting the most sustainable project.

Since May this year nearly 36 sixth form students and 30 business volunteers from the London Legacy Development Corporation and their partners, operators and tenants have been teaching 660 pupils aged 12 to 14 years old about jobs being created on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and how best to access them. The project also offers mentoring for sixth form students and apprentices by matching up employers at the Park with young people thinking about starting their careers.

Pupils took part in five days of learning and activities, including creating an enterprising product or service for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and presenting their business plan to a panel of local employers. The top business teams from each school then went on to pit their ideas against the other schools at the awards evening on Tuesday.

Individual Awards presented to the most determined and committed pupils and Team Leaders

  • Mentor of the Year – Jonnellie Kate, St Angela’s Ursuline School (Newham), most supportive team leader
  • Most Inspirational & Influential Award – Moncef Dijbl, Walthamstow Academy (Waltham Forest), the biggest motivator of his team
  • Passion For Life & Learning Award – Viktoria Sitnikaite, St Angela’s Ursuline School (Newham), the most committed team leader
  • Most Competitive – Lily Hart, Connaught School for Girls (Waltham Forest), the biggest competitive attitude
  • Managing Director of the Year – Daisy Sheldon, Walthamstow Academy (Waltham Forest), showed the best managing director skills
  • Best Team Player Award – Valentina Omotoso, St Angela’s Ursuline School (Newham), showed the best team work throughout the project
  • Ambassador of the Year – Joshua Gardener, Skinners’ Academy (Hackney), the best ambassador for the Park throughout the project
  • Most Committed – Thanda Naing, Connaught School for Girls (Waltham Forest), the most committed student

Pupils were rewarded with unique prizes including work experience placements, tickets to events at the Copper Box Arena and tickets to enjoy the views from the UK’s tallest sculpture, the ArcelorMittal Orbit.

The Legacy Careers project has been taken into schools by the London Legacy Development Corporation and is being delivered by Future Foundations, an independent training organisation, in association with educational charity, Brightside and icould.