Kids Inspire Cadbury's
How 745,000 primary school children inspired Cadbury's to be better at business
Cadbury
Cabdury's made it possible for Young Enterprise to launch first enterprise education scheme designed for the under 12s, starting in 2001.
Called the Primary Programme, it gives children an understanding of citizenship, business and the world of work with the aim of helping them develop positive attitude to themselves and their role in society.
It works on the principle of 'learning by doing' which Young Enterprise believes helps young people develop vital ‘employability’ skills – such as teamwork, punctuality and the ability to apply abstract knowledge to real-world problems – in a way that purely academic approaches could never achieve.
The Primary Programme and uses games, activities and role play to help students to develop positive attitudes and enthusiasm for the outside world.
Under the arrangement, volunteer Cadbury Schweppes employees (working in company time) and teachers run programmes aimed at improving students’ awareness of society and their place within it through the teaching of six modules: Ourselves; Our Families; Our Community; Our City; Our Nation; and Our World.
The modules are linked to the National Curriculum and allow pupils to learn and discuss concepts such as citizenship, voting and taxation.
An independent evaluation of the Young Enterprise Primary Programme found that 83% of the teachers judged that it had made a valuable contribution to the school curriculum.
In addition, teachers felt that the Primary Programme made a significant contribution towards students’ development of working with others, communication and problem solving.
A Cadbury spokesman said: ‘The Primary Programme has remained by far the largest and most successful of the Young Enterprise programmes. By the end of 2010 over 745,000 students had experienced a Young Enterprise Primary Programme; something which we’re really proud about.’
Neil Makin, Chairman of the Cadbury Foundation, said: ‘This is not just about raising the aspirations of young people in our communities. Looking to develop enterprising skills, attitudes and behaviours in others, and in a School setting has also helped enthuse, inspire and develop our own YE volunteer business advisers - enhancing skills, unlocking creativity, stimulating innovation, personal growth and achievement.
'It's fun, extremely motivating and it's good for business. For many of our today's senior executive team, Young Enterprise was very much part of their own business journey.’
