Ice cream + pizza = profit

Year 10 Birchgrove pupils on the college’s Kick Start Programme have worked in partnership with Dominos to run a successful event at the Gorseinon campus – selling Joe’s ice cream as part of their Enterprise qualification.

“I really enjoyed creating a business plan and working out the amount of profit that can be made,” says pupil Jake Todd, who acted as project manager. “I can already recognise the support and opportunities available for me to progress further in college.”

Mr Martinelli from Birchgrove Comprehensive was extremely pleased with the outcome of the event and added: “I was impressed with how my school group adapted to dealing with college students and their confidence grew throughout the day. They learned a wide variety of employability skills and are now looking forward to planning another event in the New Year.”

“This was an opportunity for Birchgrove students to gain a taster of the Enterprise course we offer,” says lecturer Lucy Turtle. “The manager of Dominos in Gorseinon is a former student who was able to support our event by offering free vouchers with every purchase of ice cream. Dominos was also recruiting for part time workers so it gave our students a chance to chat to the team and complete job applications.”

The Kick Start Programme is a new initiative developed by the college and aimed at Key Stage 4 students from across Swansea who enrol at college to complete a BTEC in Vocational Studies. This course enables them to study a range of different pathways and gives them the opportunity to discover an area of interest that they could pursue on leaving school. There are currently six schools taking part in the programme with each group following a bespoke course tailored to their needs e.g. forensic science, plumbing, hair and beauty, printmaking, sound recording, enterprise, catering and engineering.