Trinity School pupils inspire business leaders in California to look at their business in a different way

01 Dec 2014

On November 14th a group of 23 Sixth Formers from Trinity School (Croydon) held a global conference call with business leaders from the Salesforce Foundation in the US, Canada and Europe.

The project entitled ‘From Classroom to Boardroom’, and run by Entrepreneurs in Action (EiA), had given the students the task set by Salesforce (a multi-billion dollar company who are world leaders in customer relationship management systems) of coming up with a strategy for their small and medium sized customers in the charity sector.

Not only did the Trinity Sixth Formers impress with how well they worked in the face of tight deadlines (they only had three days) but their presentation to the UK team went so well that they were asked to return to the company’s HQ in the City in order to put their recommendations directly to their international colleagues.

In a recent British Chambers of Commerce survey 88% of businesses believed that school leavers are unprepared for the world of work and over half (57%) said that young people are lacking basic ‘soft’ skills, such as communication and team working, to succeed in the working world.
The EiA ‘Classroom to Boardroom’ programme aims to address the issue by giving students real experience of understanding the language and culture of global businesses, of working under pressure and of presenting their findings in a compelling way.

The Trinity Headmaster, Mark Bishop said: “In 2013 during my sabbatical leave I spent several weeks working directly with leading employers in the City to ascertain exactly what they are looking for when it comes to recruitment. Whilst excellent qualifications are clearly needed, it is obvious that this is in no sense enough. This is why I am delighted that our students have had the chance to work on a real business challenge and have been able to deliver such a high quality presentation.”

The pupils themselves were incredibly enthusiastic about what they have learnt and for the opportunity to take part in a programme that exposed them to a world far removed from their everyday A level courses.
Matthew Eagling (age 17 in Year 13) said: “It was such a beneficial experience. It was very exciting working on a real business challenge. I felt I really improved my presentation skills, especially because we were in a live business environment.”

 

Photo: Lewis Ashley, Mark MacLeod, Oscar Lally (all Y13) put the final touches to their presentation