On Friday, Emanuel School hosted the inaugural Dragons’ Den for Primary Schools event in the Fiennes Theatre as part of our outreach programme.

Teams from Alderbrook Primary, Christ Church, Shaftesbury Park, St Faith’s and Thomas’ Academy have all been working on their business proposition for the past academic year and came into school to pitch their business ideas to the three Dragons – Charles Oppenheim (owner and manager of the ParkLife, which owns the Skylark Cafe, Wandsworth Common); Anna Cusden (Managing Director of Look Fabulous Forever) and Mr Tong (Head of Innovation and Enterprise).

The standard of competition was extremely impressive and the business ideas were all exceptional, ranging from smart shopper apps to bio pens. The teams all presented their business ideas with confidence to the Dragons and were able to answer some very tricky questions afterwards.

Prizes were awarded as follows:

  • Best Business Idea – Shaftesbury Park
  • Most Feasible Business – Christ Church
  • Most Sustainable Business – St Faith’s
  • Best Presentation – Thomas’ Academy
  • Best Overall Company – Alderbrook

The children all thoroughly enjoyed the competition and we look forward to hosting it again next year.

Many thanks to Lisa Irwin for all of her hard work this year and to the two external Dragons who added so much to the competition.

Rupert Tong (Head of Innovation and Enterprise)

The team from Alderbrook pictured with the Dragons and their 'best overall company' award