Budding young business leaders at South Yorkshire’s Laughton Junior and Infant School have notched up more than £750 in profits so far to help fund a ‘lollipop person’ outside their school.
An AESSEAL® business loan of £150 - £5 to each child in Year Six - set the ball rolling for students who took up the challenge to ‘Make £5 Blossom’.
Make £5 Blossom is an initiative run by Rotherham Youth Enterprise (RYE), which encourages students to take the lead in turning a business idea into a profit-making venture, while learning important skills for the future such as team work, creativity, negotiation, leadership, and problem-solving.
Laughton students worked together to invest their loan in a range of fundraising activities, including a Christmas fair, to transform their investment.
They had an extra incentive for raising vital funds – the school hopes to continue to fund the crossing patrol on the busy main road outside as it no longer receives the service from the local council.
Connecting with successful local companies is a key part of Make £5 Blossom – and the Laughton students were lucky to have AESSEAL®, a global leader in mechanical seal design and manufacture, just up the road in Rotherham.
The students were invited to the company’s headquarters on Bradmarsh Business Park, where they learned important lessons about astute investment.
They heard how founder and Managing Director Chris Rea started AESSEAL® in 1979 with a staff of just five, and how continued investment in people, product development, plant and equipment has created a company that employs over 1700 people in 230 locations worldwide, supplying customers in 104 countries.
The students got some hands-on experience of building a mechanical seal before being taken on a tour of the state-of-the-art factory.
Following the news of AESSEAL’s Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development and Net Zero for the global group, this shows we have been taking care of the environment and we have also been taking care of business
Laughton teacher Dave Chambers said:
“What an incredible visit! The children were so enthused about both their enterprise projects and the company and factory. Many were captivated by the growth of the company and are now considering owning their own businesses and/or becoming engineers.”
After their visit, the students each wrote a letter to AESSEAL® thanking them for the factory visit. One student even wrote: "This visit impacted me: now I want to become an engineer."
Welcoming the partnership with the school, Julia Bloomer, Learning and Development Manager at AESSEAL® said:
“Running a business involves a lot of different skills, not least teamwork, commitment and a constant desire to learn new things. These are skills that you’re never too young to learn and the Laughton classmates should be proud of raising such a healthy profit from their business venture. It’s great to hear that they came away from this partnership with a better knowledge of the people and skills that make up a successful business, and also with greater enthusiasm and aspiration for their own future careers, with many of them being inspired to become engineers and/or work at AESSEAL® in the future.”