Member Article

Business Adviser goes back to school

Not everyone has happy memories of their school days, but going back to school to deliver a session about self-employment on ‘Life Skills day’ at Prudhoe Community High School in Northumberland was a stimulating and enjoyable experience for Julia Weldon, NBSL’s Business Adviser based at the Hexham Business Advice Centre.

Commenting on the experience Julia said “the students were a pleasure to work with; they were a credit to the school and asked confident and well thought out questions showing that they are considering self-employment from a basis of intelligent research and creative thought.”

NBSL were invited by Assistant Head Teacher Rob West to take part in the day which gives students a taste of life beyond the sixth form. A variety of presentations were available for them to attend including a talk on self-employment given by Julia, herself previously self-employed and able to empathise with the students having started a business in her early twenties.

The presentation given to the students covered some of the main issues to consider when starting a business such as the advantages and disadvantages of self-employment; the different legal statuses of a business; the types of insurance cover required and regulatory requirements.

The interactive session enabled students to ask questions and consider whether self-employment would be a viable option for them in future. Most of the students were, very sensibly, intending to go to university or obtain work experience before taking the plunge into enterprise. One student however had a reasonably clear idea of the path he would like to take in future which enabled Julia to send him some further information after the event to assist in his market research.

Following the session Rob said “the feedback from students was excellent. They found the session both valuable and informative and it has hopefully made them realise what they need to do to be successful in life beyond the sixth form”.

NBSL and Prudhoe Community High School are now looking to the future themselves and hope to work in partnership to develop enterprise further in the school.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Phil Langton .