Students have created their own businesses as part of an enterprise project.

Nine pupils from Mansfield’s The Brunts Academy, part of Greenwood Academies Trust, joined Inspire’s Takeover initiative.

Takeover sees groups of young people, aged 14 to 24, take part in creative activities, including workshops on marketing, enterprise, volunteering, and careers for three months.

The initiative aims to equip young people with the skills and experience to bring a creative concept to fruition in a business setting, opening doors of opportunity for their futures.

Brunts pupils will take over the First Art shop unit in Mansfield’s Four Season’s Shopping Centre on 15th and 16th February to sell their unique products.

These included baked goods, dry ingredient packs, hoodies, T-shirts, and mugs, featuring pupils’ original artwork designs.

The young people prepared for their shop takeover by testing recipes, getting feedback from other pupils, sourcing materials, and creating designs.

In addition to the shop takeover, students had further experiences linked to enterprise and business —visiting business owners at Non-Such Studios, Sneinton Market, and Art of Football to get business advice.

The experience was particularly beneficial for the Year 11 pupils, who missed out on work experience due to the pandemic.

Laura Solly, arts teacher at the academy and facilitator of Takeover for Brunts pupils, said: “Takeover has been a fantastic opportunity for our Year 11s by allowing them to pursue a passion, whether that be music, art, poetry, or baking and developing these into small businesses.

“Pupils even gathered advice and feedback from local business owners to support their enterprise projects.

“Running the shop was a wonderful opportunity for pupils to display their talents to the public and get experience in retail and business.

“Pupils were full of ideas and showed great independent thinking and initiative in making their projects come to life.”

Principal Carl Atkin added: “I am proud of how hard our pupils worked to bring their visions to life.

“It is so rewarding to see them engaging with learning outside the classroom and taking the initiative to build their own enterprises.

“At Brunts we value experiences such as Takeover as ambitious endeavours to bolster classroom learning and accelerate personal development.

“I have no doubt the pupils learned many inspiring and innovative lessons through their time in the experience that will aid them in their bright futures ahead.”