News Article

Stonyhurst College are proud to be the first school in the North West to have signed up to an innovative Social Enterprise company programme, run by the Young Enterprise organisation. The Social Enterprise pilot scheme has been offered by Young Enterprise in response to the Government pledge to increase awareness of Social Enterprises in the UK.

Twelve Year 12 pupils have joined together to form the company which is called SCRAP. This stands for Stonyhurst College Re-using And Producing, and is led by MD Charlie McDermott.

The pupils are committed to having a significant social and environmental impact in the activities that they undertake, as well as committing to give the majority of their profits and assets towards the Great British Elm Experiment, a national programme run by the Conservation Foundation which aims to replace the millions of elm trees lost in the UK to Dutch Elm Disease.

The pupils are using off-cuts of logs from the Stonyhurst grounds to produce coasters and door signs, emblazoned with the College logo, and personalised to order. The pupils are also using waste Perspex from the Design & Technology department to produce an attractive range of personalised keyrings.

The Social Enterprise programme at Stonyhurst had an excellent start to the year by winning the Best Business Plan award when they presented their ideas to the local ‘Dragons’ at the Area Board Dragons Den competition. The judges were impressed by their financial projections, and felt that they had planned their ideas for the year well.

The pupils are now looking forward to putting their plan into practice and making a direct environmental contribution through their business activities.

The photo shows MD Charlie McDermott, Finance Director Serena Barnett, Company Secretary Freddie Cruz and Marketing Director Nicholas Carrollo at the Dragons’ Den competition.