Boost for enterprising entrepreneurs at East Cleveland academy

Special visitors are to be welcomed at an East Cleveland academy, sponsored by Teesside University, which aims to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Alice Barnard, Chief Executive Officer of the Peter Jones Foundation and Helen Emberton, Head of Curriculum at the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, will visit Freebrough Academy in Brotton on Thursday 22 November, when they will meet staff and students.

Construction started earlier this year on new provision at the Academy to create the Cleveland hub, to be known as the Enterprise@Freebrough, as a regional hub for the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy.

The building is due to officially open in January. A group of post-16 students have already embarked on the level three enterprise and entrepreneurship course housed in the pre-16 Academy, while around 300 pre-16 students are studying towards the level two enterprise and entrepreneurship qualification.

The scheme, named after the Dragons’ Den star, is being pioneered at Brotton in what will become an ultra-modern post-16 hub for enterprise. It is the first school in the country to work with the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy. All other hubs have been within post-16 institutions.

Academy Principal Linda Halbert, who was named Head teacher of the Year in the North East School Awards 2012,said: 'We are very excited about becoming a regional hub for the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy. Helping to nurture entrepreneurial qualifications is essential in ensuring our students have the skills to be able to deal with the constantly changing world of work.'

Freebrough Academy has been allocated £2.6m from the Government's Academies programme to improve its facilities. Although standing alone from the main Academy, the centre will share curriculum and staff.

The Peter Jones Enterprise Academy will specialise in teaching business and enterprise, creative and digital media and engineering courses alongside more traditional learning. It will offer a mix of informal open plan areas as well as formal teaching spaces plus four business incubator units for new enterprises and a large design workshop with printing facility.

Professor Graham Henderson CBE DL, Vice-Chancellor of Teesside University, the lead sponsor of Freebrough Academy, said: 'The new centre at Freebrough will provide East Cleveland residents with even more opportunities to change their lives and prospects in what will be a truly inspirational educational environment.'

The visitors will also meet Freebrough’s four Tycoon in Schools teams, which is a national challenge. These four teams have been selected from teams across the country to receive funding from Peter Jones to trade their new businesses for four weeks. Teams are then judged on money made, creativity and business ideas. The four teams entered from Freebrough are Scrub a Dub, Homemade Heaven, Cleveland Garden Furniture and Retro Emporium.

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