February 29, 2024 11:54am
An ambitious team from The Portsmouth Academy have been crowned winners of the South Coast’s Apprentice Vs Dragons Den competition, which saw teams of secondary school students come up with a product idea which solves one of modern life’s problems.
Well done to Ella, Emily, Zainab and Veronica-Mae who received a £500 voucher for being the overall winner of the competition, which also included participants from schools at Castle View Academy, Horndean Technology College and The Academy Selsey.
Congratulations to our second team who won 'Best Presentation' with one of the Dragon's saying that if they were to ever launch their Drone, he would be interested in investing in the product.
Each team presented their inspirational solutions to problems such as ocean pollution, support for student mental health and neurodivergence, food waste and the cost of living.
The teams are tasked with the design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of their product, and must also demonstrate their predicted profits and returns.
The event marked the beginning of National Apprenticeship Week 2024, with the aim to raise aspirations and encourage pupils to work hard and achieve.
In order to reach the final, teams from schools began working on their ideas before the summer holiday break in 2023.
There were opportunities throughout the process – including a couple of teams from The Portsmouth Academy – to reach the final, and we were pleased one of our teams were chosen to participate in the grand finale.
Miss Rahman, the Careers & Enrichment Lead at The Portsmouth Academy, said:
“Well done to all of our pupils who participated in this competition, especially to our winning team who represented the school brilliantly, I am proud of everyone involved. Our teams worked together well and many of our pupils demonstrated brilliant presentation and leadership skills.
“At The Portsmouth Academy, we encourage our pupils to achieve their aspirations through a variety of opportunities and this Apprentice Vs Dragons Den competition was a prime example of that.”