Macclesfield News - written by local people

Business Students from the Learning Zone Sixth Form College (LZ6) were recently set an apprentice style challenge by NatWest in which they took on the role of catering companies and pulled together a tender for hosting an evening meal with entertainment – all within a set deadline and budget.

Piers Phillips demonstrating the evening’s entertainment!

Juliette Hardy-Wilson from NatWest’s MoneySense educational programme delivered a hands-on session to the first year Business, Administration and Finance Advanced Diploma students in which they explored the practicalities of running a business.

The students were required to plan menus, decorations and a theme for the event, all of which had to be realistically and accurately costed and priced.  Each group then presented their pitch in a bid to win the contract.

The winning team impressed the NatWest representative with their well thought out proposal for a James Bond themed evening and the team declared the runner-up also successfully applied their business knowledge to their exotic Hawaiian night.

Students planning their event

The Diploma, which was introduced for the first time this September, is an exciting qualification which mixes classroom learning and hands-on experience and, with the help of employers like Juliette, helps to bring learning to life.

Charlotte Thompson, Business, Administration and Finance Diploma Co-ordinator for Cheshire East, and lecturer at LZ6 said: ' This activity provided invaluable experience for the students, further strengthening their team work, communication and problem solving skills. These skills will prove very useful later on in the course as they set up and pitch their own real-life business to local employers and business investors’.

Team working skills were developed throughout the day

For more information on the Diploma see www.learningzone.ac.uk/lz6 or call LZ6 on 01625 410002. Alternatively see www.direct.gov.uk/diplomas and www.baf-diploma.org.uk.