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The sky’s the limit

Published: 29/06/2016

Flintshire County Council Communities First has been working in partnership with Reaching Wider Wider North and Mid Wales Partnership and Theatr Clwyd on an innovative business programme for primary schools. The “Sky’s the Limit” project, inspired by “Dragons’ Den” and piloted at Theatr Clwyd in Mold, is aimed at engaging with children aged 9-11 to develop confidence, public speaking, maths and English in a fun way with an ultimate aim of preparing them to pitch a business idea to “Angels” who are all local business entrepreneurs volunteering their time. Flintshire schools St Ethelwolds School in Shotton and Ysgol Maes Glas in Greenfield took part. The workshops were delivered in two sessions over one week between 10 and 17 June. Session 1 built their skills and teamwork and was delivered at the school with two performers from Theatr Clwyd. Following on from session 1 the children worked in the classroom to practise their pitch ready for their presentation the following week. Session 2 was again supported by the two performers and took place at Theatr Clwyd. The children pitched their business idea and received positive feedback from the business entrepreneurs. The “Angels” were Christine Sheibani HR Director Comtek Network Systems, Dave Fildes Managing Director dfs4, Becky Stark Director Stark Export Focus Limited and Sam Freeman Director of Communications for Theatr Clwyd. Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, Councillor Chris Bithell, said: “The outcome of the project was to create confidence, creative thinking, teamwork, effective participation and self-motivation. Its aimed at year 6 pupils and is an ideal introductory workshop to entrepreneurship. The project has been so successful that will be rolled out to 10 junior schools in Communities First areas in September.” Emyr John from Theatr Clwyd, who devised the project after being approached by Communities First, said: “This is an example of how theatre can be used as a tool, not only to teach, but to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.” Reaching Wider North and Mid Wales Employer Engagement Manager, Paula Griffiths, said: “Through this partnership with Theatr Clwyd and Flintshire Communities First, we are using arts to raise the aspirations of young people and empower them and to create their own ideas whilst exploring opportunities to progress into Business and Higher Education in an innovative and fun way.” Along with the workshop on Friday, 17 June, the children got the opportunity to see “To Dream Again” by Toby Hulse. This play, for 7-11 year olds, is inspired by William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. The project was funded by Communities First – a Welsh Government funded programme - working in partnership with Reaching Wider North and Mid Wales Partnership, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. Reaching Wider was established in 2002 as a Wales-wide, collaborative, long-term programme to break down perceived barriers and widen access to higher education and higher-level skills. ON THE SET OF “MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING” Pupils from St Ethelwolds School with (at the back) their teacher, Christine Sheibani HR Director Comtek Network Systems, Dave Fildes Managing Director dfs4 and Sam Freeman Director of Communications for Theatr Clwyd. Nia Davies in the front row in black is one of the performers from Theatr Clwyd. Pupils from Ysgol Maes Glas with (at the back) Christine Sheibani HR Director Comtek Network Systems, Becky Stark Director Stark Export Focus Limited and Sam Freeman Director of Communications for Theatr Clwyd. Nia Davies in black on the right is one of the performers from Theatr Clwyd.