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T-shirts designed by customers
interactively on a website, junior raves,
golf, pork, compost and breakfasts
all have something in common at
St Andrew’s. They all make up
innovative ideas that Year 12 and
Year 13 Business Studies students have
developed to raise money for charity,
or create a profitable and sustainable
business as part of the Young
Enterprise Scheme, YES.
Business Studies teacher, Steve
Aldhamland, says the YES programme
is a great way to give students a real
taste of a career in business. “They
create a company, set up roles and
appoint individuals and develop a
product,” he says. “They have to sell
their product and hopefully, make
a profit.”
Steve has been working with Head of
Commerce, Phil Temple, on introducing
new standards into the Business
Studies syllabus. The YES programme
is seen as a real project that suits the
front end of the curriculum. “Young
Enterprise is a good model for our
Year 13 standards,“ he says. “It gets
the students really working in the
community where they have to co-
operate and collaborate with others.”
The course introduces students to
entrepreneurship and develops their
skill in running a business and in
financial management.
In NCEA Business Studies, Year 12
students have to develop a community-
focused business that starts with
extensive market research. “They
have to find a target market, and then
research what that community wants,”
says Steve.
One group talked to men from the
Christchurch City Mission Night Shelter
who supported the idea of a cooked
breakfast. The group then had to
budget, cost and deliver the breakfast.
They also wrote up a proposal that they
put before a supermarket company,
Countdown, who agreed to sponsor
the meal. A second group organised a
golf tournament that raised $5,000 for
breast-cancer research.
Steve says the Year 13 groups are more
business-focused to meet the Level 3
NCEA criteria, where concepts have to
be sustainable and innovative.
“We had a lot of ideas in the groups
including raising grain-fed, free-range
pork that was then butchered locally and
sold through the school, to a range of
T-shirts featuring designs inspired by the
Christchurch street art and sold online.
“The T-shirt business was sold to a
parent, so will keep going,” says Steve.
He’s proud of the effort the groups
all made but says the challenge for
the students is to see their fledgling
businesses as a business and not just as
NCEA credits.
“To be successful students need
to be enterprising in the context of
authentically getting into the idea and
running it like a real business and not
just a school project.”
Steve believes the College has the
potential for Business Studies and
Agriculture to align more closely. “There
is a great opportunity here to look
at taking ideas from the farm to the
market,” he says.
in New Zealand
Callum Stewart (Year 9) has been awarded a
prestigious University of New South Wales (UNSW)
medal in the International Competitions &
Assessments for Schools (ICAS) for Computer Skills.
Callum achieved the top mark in New Zealand in
Year 9, despite not being enrolled for Computer
Studies at the College. Year 9 Dean Matt Nicoll praised
Callum for accomplishing this award through his own
extra-curricular efforts. “He is an outstanding young
man, involved in the Gifted and Talented Programme
and in an independent fund-raising activity.” Callum
sells iPhone covers to raise money for the new Chapel.
Other students to excel in this year’s ICAS exams
receiving High Distinctions are: Juliette Newman
(Science, Spelling), Blake Harvey (Science), Lewis
Edmond (Mathematics), and Maximilian Renaud
(Mathematics).
Problems
Year 10 Future Problem-Solving
teams took part in the finals of the
New Zealand FPS Competition. StAC
has been successful in gaining entry
to this event over the last four years.
Congratulations to Lizzie Stevenson,
Kirah Willems, Stephanie Suppan
and Lawson Osteen who placed fifth.
Martina Moroney (Year 11) won the
writing competition.
Top mark
Solving
The
real
thing
Callum Stewart (Year 9)
Jimmy Philip and Madison Davis, members of the Year 12 Business Studies group that raised
$5,000 for breast cancer through their golf initiative.