Summerfield Developments have recently hosted the largest ‘Entrepreneurship Masterclass’ in Somerset, in conjunction with international education charity, Young Enterprise and Bishop Fox’s School in Taunton, as part of an annual inter-school challenge.
The event, held in Taunton’s Victoria House, saw 54 students from six secondary schools in Somerset taking place in a business workshop where teams of 14 and 15-year-olds looked at a series of challenges faced in the housing development sector.
The students from Taunton schools; Bishop Fox’s School, Castle School, Taunton Academy and Healthfield were joined by teams from the Blue School in Wells and Wadham School in Crewkerne. All teams were given a site plan and aerial photograph of a real housing development in the South West, scale drawings of various properties and a brief that would see them looking at planning issues and development, and sales and marketing of their site.
The students had their teachers on hand throughout the day, plus several experts were on hand to provide advice and judge including: Nigel Pearce, Chartered Architect from Pearce Practice, Tim Holden the ‘planning expert’ from White Young Green, David White, the ‘property advisor’ from Hatfield White, Karen Morledge, the ‘marketing expert’ from Plum Communications & PR as well as the team from Summerfield and Young Enterprise and individuals representing Taunton Chamber of Commerce, Taunton Deane Borough Council and Somerset College of Arts and Technology.
Chris Winter, Summerfield’s Managing Director, who hosted and participated in the event said:
“There have been some fantastic ideas and creativity from the students involved and I’m sure that everyone has taken something valuable away as a result of the day; I certainly have particularly in relation to the importance of environmental aspects of development and modern marketing tactics that are important to home buyers of the future. Special thanks to the students for their incredible enthusiasm and professionalism, they have done their schools and Summerfield proud.”
The event culminated with team presentations, with the students outlining their proposed new housing development. The team from Wadham School in Crewkerne were selected as the overall winners by the judging panel for their detailed consideration of all aspects of the development and their creative ideas for marketing their new development.
All students were given goody bags and the winners were awarded certificates and given a range of prizes in a Summerfield jute bag.