Students Prepare For Airport Apprentice Challenge
Birmingham International Airport (BIA) is giving students from a local Birmingham school the opportunity to take part in an ‘Apprentice’ style challenge, taking inspiration from Sir Alan Sugar’s unique style.
Over a three-week period, twelve 14-16 year old students from Yardleys School in Tyseley, Birmingham, will complete a series of challenges to test their literacy and oral skills as well as their ability to understand instructions, work as a team, present, and to be innovative and enterprising. After each challenge, two students will hear the terrifying words ‘You’re Fired’, and after the final test, one student will be told they are ‘Hired’ to become overall winner of the initiative.
The challenges include:
• creating a business plan for a new airline, to include a name, brand design, pricing structure and route network;
• deciding on a new retailer to operate in one of the Airport terminals, taking into consideration the Airport environment and customer profile;
• purchasing as many items as possible at the Airport with just £50; and
• presenting to senior managers about the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed runway extension.
The initiative came about after the school’s Assistant Head, Neil Warner, approached BIA to seek its support. He explains: “I wanted to find a unique and enjoyable way to challenge the students to experience life in a business environment so BIA seemed like an ideal partner given its location and active educational programme. Following our recent successful Ofsted report we wanted to build on our strengths in developing different experiences for our students. The BBC TV series ‘The Apprentice’ is such a big hit, and the concept is fairly easy to simulate so with the Airport’s support I’m sure the students are in for a real treat.”
Andy Holding, BIA’s Community Affairs Officer added: “This is exactly the type of educational initiative we want to get involved with so the Airport jumped at the chance to support Neil and his class. These bright young minds will bring fresh thinking and new ideas to the table and we might even discover a young entrepreneur of the future among the students!“
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