Woodchurch pupils are a shoe-in for business success

The Soled! event, organised by careers advice specialist MPloy Solutions saw Year 10 pupils from Woodchurch High School work together to build their own 'shoe-manufacturing' companies.

The groups were required to capture their chosen market and customer base, going on to design, manufacture and market their own product.

Representatives from leading businesses such as Asda, Nationwide, Pepsico, Arco and NatWest turned out to support the pupils, choosing the winning team based on their performance in a competitive business pitch.

The pupils were awarded for their communication and organisational skills, as well as creative thinking and marketing prowess.

Both days ended with a winning team selected by the visiting business experts, with a hard decision each day about which team performed the best.

The sessions formed part of their Enterprise activities, which aim to help enrich their learning experience.

Rebekah Phillips, headteacher at Woodchurch High, said: "The event was a great way to give pupils an insight into the value of team work and effective communication.

"All the groups interacted brilliantly with employers and came up with some fantastic ideas and strategies.

"It's extremely important that pupils are given the opportunity to continue to develop key employable skills on days like this outside of normal activities in lessons. MPloy's events are highly effective at achieving this."

Norma Guest, managing director at MPloy, added: "The pupils were very professional and really impressed the employers in attendance.

"This event is all about encouraging pupils to think about the different kinds of business skills they need to achieve success.

"It is very much a team exercise and demonstrates how different roles work together.

"One of the main focusses of MPloy is to organise events where pupils can meet the employers that they will need to impress in future, inspiring them to think about their professional careers."