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Sunderland special needs students win 'Apprentice' competition

Sunderland special needs students stole the show at the Young Enterprise North East (YENE) annual Team Celebration day this week, where they battled it out with schools across the region in an ‘Apprentice-style’ challenge. The challenge was held at Sedgefield racecourse, where students from YENE’s Team (special education needs) Programme were assessed on how they set up and managed a genuine company complete with products to sell, a board of directors and saleable shares.

The Team Celebration event saw student business ‘Gifts Galore’ from Portland School in Sunderland win the Overall Winner of the Mask Workshop where students had to design, produce and sell masks for an imaginary summer masquerade ball. Students from Barbara Priestman School in Sunderland won the Best Trade Stand category with their business, ‘Ideas 4 U’, selling glassware, handcrafted cards and plant pots.

YENE’s chief executive Catherine Marchant said: “The Team Celebration event allows young people from across the region to celebrate their achievements and to meet other Team Programme students. It’s a fun and relaxed day, which students, teachers and Young Enterprise staff all enjoy.

“We chose local business tycoons Chris and Geoff Baxter from Baxters Promotions based in Tees Valley to judge all three categories and they reported that the standard of the business presentations, trade stands and mask designs was outstanding. The enterprise spirit shone through across all schools and there may well be some Alan Sugars of the future out there.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .