Students from Buckinghamshire schools take part in sales apprentice challenge

The event took place at Pinewood Studios and was organised by Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership’s skills hub.

Students from the John Colet School in Wendover, Buckinghamshire College Group’s Aylesbury campus and Bucks UTC, based in Aylesbury and the Buckingham School were among those that took part.

The teams of students were paired with local businesses and were challenged with presenting a sales pitch for a product to judges.

Marina Jackson, under-19 skills manager for the Buckinghamshire Skills Hub said: “The challenge gives students the opportunity to discover traits common to all sales professionals, exploring and developing confidence, knowledge, presentation, communication, research, resilience and persistence.”

Teams of year 12 students took part in the competition which was judged by Ailie Smith, CEO of Creative Media Skills, Athol Hendry of the Careers and Enterprise Company and Marina Jackson from Bucks Skills Hub.

Ailie said: “It was so rewarding to be involved in this inspiring event for local young people.

“As a business owner, I feel it is crucial to take responsibility for guiding the next generation, using opportunities such as this event to ensure a capable and confident future workforce.”

The other schools that participated were Highcrest Academy, Buckinghamshire College Group’s Amersham campus, The Misbourne School and Sir William Ramsay School in High Wycombe, who were declared winners.

Their prize is an exclusive talk from Paralympic gold medallist and Guinness World Record holder Naomi Riches MBE for their school.