Over 400 budding entrepreneurs from The James Young High School and Whitburn Academy recently participated in The Centre, Livingston's first-ever Retail Entrepreneurship Awards. The initiative was designed to give pupils the opportunity to create a new campaign idea and gain insight into the operations of their local shopping centre.
Campaign Development
Second-year pupils at both schools were invited to develop an original campaign concept that would complement and enhance the shopping centre's retail and food offerings, or propose a new fun activity for young people. Pupils also had the option to focus on a 'greener shopping centre' idea with sustainable initiatives.
The entrepreneurship project aimed to allow pupils to work in teams to bring a fresh idea to The Centre, Livingston, and provide them with an understanding of its history, dating back to its opening 50 years ago. It also offered insight into the day-to-day operations and marketing of the shopping centre.
The brief included everything from the 'big idea' and how they would research, develop, and deliver it, to detailed timescales and the marketing and measurement of campaign success.
Finalists and Awards
Five finalists from The James Young High School were invited to The Centre, Livingston to present their campaigns to the management team in the boardroom. The team also visited Whitburn Academy to judge their five finalists.
Following the presentations, the management team returned to The James Young High School for an awards ceremony with the finalists and attended the Pupil Award Ceremony at Whitburn Academy to present the prizes.
There were two runners-up at both schools: Sleek Street for Best Innovative Campaign and Guardians of the Earth for Best Sustainable Campaign at The James Young High School. At Whitburn Academy, Puppy Pilates won Best Innovative Campaign, and Greener Livingston won Best Sustainable Campaign and also the Best Overall Campaign.
The runners-up received personalised, framed certificates and a team prize of a £100 Gift Card. The 'Greener Livingston' campaign team received an additional £100 Gift Card for being the overall winner and a £125 Gift Card to treat themselves to lunch at the shopping centre.
All 400 pupils who took part across both schools received a 'Certificate of Achievement Award' from The Centre, Livingston in recognition of their efforts.
Teacher and Director Comments
Suzy Muirhead, PTC Social Subjects & Modern Languages at The James Young High School, said: 'We are incredibly proud of all our S2 Business Education pupils, who developed their ideas, thinking like real entrepreneurs by planning their campaigns, working within a budget, and considering how to bring their concepts to life. From innovative marketing ideas to environmentally friendly solutions, their creativity and teamwork have truly shone! The competition not only gave our pupils an insight into business, marketing, and entrepreneurship but also helped develop a range of meta skills, including building confidence, communication, and problem-solving skills, especially when pitching to The Centre, Livingston management team.'
Annya Anderson, Teacher of Business Education at Whitburn Academy, said: 'All of our students really enjoyed participating in the project. We were absolutely blown away with their enthusiasm and creativity during their campaign development. It was fantastic to see them work together in their teams to problem-solve and provide realistic business examples that The Centre, Livingston could use in the future. It was a proud moment for the Business Department to see our winners receive their awards and certificates from the team at The Centre, Livingston.'
Patrick Robbertze, Centre Director at The Centre, Livingston, said: 'Congratulations to all the S2 pupils at The James Young High School and Whitburn Academy for taking part in our first-ever Retail Entrepreneurship Award. The project was designed to not only provide pupils with the opportunity to take part in an exciting entrepreneurship experience but also give them an insight into the day-to-day running of their local shopping centre. It was fantastic to go through the campaign ideas, which blew us all away with how imaginative and very detailed they were, covering every aspect of the brief. They certainly didn't make it easy for us to choose the runners-up and an overall winner! We would also like to extend our thanks to all the teachers who helped co-ordinate the project. We are delighted to announce that we will be running the project again next year.'
