Grants for enterprise and innovation
Grants of between £2,000 and £10,000* are available for schools in Devon to develop creative and engaging learning experiences that will develop students' skills in enterprise and innovation.
Devon County Council's Enterprise in Schools Grant (EiSG) programme is open to state funded and primary schools benefitting Year 6 pupils and above.
Applications must be received by 12:00 noon on Friday 26 June 2015. Grant funds must be spent and claimed by 31 March 2016.
The programme is designed to help Devon’s schools create or expand educational opportunities within the areas of enterprise and innovation for both pupils and staff, and is informed by the ‘Enterprise for All’ report.
It will enable schools to provide a better balance between education and skills for employment and aims to equip young people with the motivation and confidence to work for themselves.
Applications must focus on entrepreneurship and enterprise education, involve pupils and staff in the design of the project and be sustainable after the lifetime of the grant.
Last year the Council awarded £113,000 worth of funding to Schools across Devon.
One of last years successful recipients was Ilfracombe Academy. As a result of being awarded funding, it hosted a national STEM event as part of a unique high-technology project called Bloodhound SSC, which set out to design and build a car that could break the 1,000mph barrier and set a new world land speed record.
Another success story was at South Molton Community College which worked with local businesses, Quince Honey Farm and Engineering company Eaton LTD.
Students teamed with the Honey Farm had to come up with a buinsess plan for a new attraction based on the Quince Honey product including marketing, financial and pricing plans. Ian Wallace, from Quince Honey Farm said; “They’ve been really enthusiastic and have had some great ideas. It’s been great to provide an opportunity for the school and work with the students”.
The students working with Eaton Ltd were shown examples of existing display stands which are used for aircraft components, they were split into groups and each given a delicate aircraft component and asked to design and manufacture a display stand for their component which Eaton Ltd can use in the future.
Rachel Wicks from Eaton Ltd said; “It’s great to be able to work with a school with a view to providing apprenticeships and to give students an idea of jobs within the engineering sector”.
The Business Enterprise challenge lessons will be incorporated into the timetable for students in years 7 and 8 and the community college is looking forward to working with all the local businesses involved.
Also as a result of EiSG funding, students from St. James school in Exeter participated in the Devon Business Expo 2015. The purpose was to connect the school and its students to local business and the Devon Business Expo presented an ideal opportunity to engage with local organisations to find out more about commerce in Exeter.
Students commented; “We visited the Devon Business Expo conference at The Matford Centre in Marsh Barton, to observe other Exeter based businesses and to gain an insight into their working structure and reasoning. We met many interesting people who were more than willing to share their knowledge, views and magnificent ideas. The event was very well run, and contained a lot of good businesses, some of whom would like to work with us."
Cabinet member for Economy and Enterprise, Councillor Leadbetter said; "The scheme was extremely successful last year and we saw some really imaginative and creative ideas coming to the fore. It's so important to inspire and motivate young people to apply what they're learning in the classroom to real life outside school and get them thinking about the relevance of their studies to the business world. This is a great opportunity for pupils and their teachers to bring subjects to life and develop their skills in this important area of the curriculum."
*Although grants of between £2,000 and £10,000 are available, more may be awarded where a project is considered highly innovative whilst delivering exceptional outputs
For more information and to apply go to the business and support pages of Devon County Council's economy webpages
Other successful recipients from last year were
King Edward VI Community College - Totnes
Exmouth Community College
The King’s School – Ottery St. Mary
St James School - Exeter
West Exe School - Exeter
Tavistock College
NORDAB – Northern Devon Academic Board Consortium (led by Great Torrington School and bringing together nine state secondary schools across North Devon & Torridge)
