Dragons Dens Choose Chocolatier

Dragons Den & the Key Stage 1 pupils (Years 1 & 2) at Westfield Primary Community School in Acomb, York have had the rather marvellous topic recently – “We Are Chocolatiers”.

As part of this topic, the children enjoyed designing and making their own chocolate products. Handling food safely, understanding the importance of hygiene, mixing and pouring were all part of the learning process, along with plenty of spoon-licking!

For the Year 2’s they were excited to pitch their chocolate product designs in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style event, held at the school.

Jamie Winspear was asked by a mutual friend if he would be one of the team on the Dragons Den – He was thrilled to be part of this great initiative. Together with representatives from other local businesses (Vintage Cash Cow and Digifish Film and Animation) they attended the event.

Dragons Den’s Brief

The children wrote, and performed persuasive adverts and created prototypes of packaging. They were then asked questions about their ideas and products. One product was chocolate filled with ice cream, which sounds delightful!

As well as helping the children understand about producing a product, advertising and marketing etc, the Dradons Den also built confidence their in public speaking.

Jamie was impressed with all children’s confidence on stage, and commented on how friendly all the children and staff at the school were.

The University of York provided the prizes and part of the overall winner’s prize was a copy of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

What a fabulous way to learn confidence building and a great introduction to running a business.

By giving the children the opportunity to think like entrepreneurs, they can start to create and develop ideas that can be presented in a convincing way.

Through the Dragon’s Den event, the children have been given the opportunity to hone their entrepreneurial skills and the support of local businesses and the University of York has been invaluable.