Greg Hands, Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham, has presented awards at The Fulham Boys School's Enterprise Week.
The Fulham Boys School - one of the Free Schools established under the coalition Government's education reforms - held its first Enterprise Week, which witnessed the pupils putting their skills to the test out and about in London. The week also signalled the start of the boys' efforts to design social enterprise projects which aim to make an impact locally in the next academic year, and Nick Hewer from the BBC's The Apprentice chaired an appraisal of the projects.
The School's Enterprise Week culminated in an awards ceremony, and patron of The Fulham Boys School, Greg Hands MP, was invited to make the presentations. Greg also took the opportunity to address pupils, staff, and parents on the topic of blue-sky thinking, and how The Fulham Boys School, as a Free School and therefore a state school, is trying to instil in its pupils an entrepreneurial spirit.
Greg Hands says, "It took a great deal of community enterprise to get The Fulham Boys School open last year, and I am delighted to see this entrepreneurial spirit continuing in the encouragement of pupils to develop their skills of innovation, hard work, and community involvement. As a patron of the School, I call on businesses interested in helping to design a curriculum fit for 21st Century enterprise to answer the School's request for active partnerships.
"I am convinced that projects like The Fulham Boys School's Enterprise Week - which itself is a mark of the educational freedom characteristic of Free Schools - will help the boys to develop entrepreneurial skills, and that it will help give the boys an edge not only in their academic careers, but also later in their professional lives.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank The Fulham Boys School's Headmaster, Alun Ebenezer, and its Chairman of Governors, Alex Wade, for their continued hard work not only in making this Free School succeed, but in making sure it goes from strength to strength."
Greg Hands looks forward to continuing his support as patron of The Fulham Boys School.
Any businesses or other organisations interested in helping develop The Fulham Boys School's enterprise programme and diploma should contact Ms Meriel Stinson at meriel.stinson@fulhamboysschool.org or on 020 7381 7100.