SOCIAL Entrepreneurship

Paul Vanni, Founding Head of the soon-to-open Senior London Park School Clapham, discusses its approach

Schools have for decades taught business studies and economics. For longer still they have taught numeracy and financial literacy and have instilled in generations of students the kind of dynamism and chutzpah that traditionally have seemed essential to business, particularly the world of the entrepreneur.

Over the years, competitions such as Young Enterprise have done much to promote the entrepreneurial spirit. Sir Alan Sugar and the glamour of The Apprentice have only served to make entrepreneurial pathways more attractive to young people. This approach to business, however, centres on the bottom line. In a modern, progressive school we should be able to harness this in a way which is more altruistic.

At London Park School Clapham, we want our students to have a real understanding of the world around them and of their place in it, and to have the wherewithal to be positive changemakers. We want the school to be a base camp for inquisitive minds and to empower leaders for a new world. As such, we have a focus on social entrepreneurship – we want our students to have the skills and real-world understanding to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural and environmental issues. These solutions eventually need to be self-propelling and sustainable, not reliant on the industry of one or two individuals. Students will work hard to develop an understanding of the challenges facing the world and – alongside our academically rigorous curriculum – we run our own courses structured around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Once you have understood an issue and felt that sense of personal agency, the next challenge is to decide what to do to tackle it head on. This is really where social entrepreneurship comes in. Our students will be encouraged to develop innovative solutions to real-world problems and much of what we will do will be centred on encouraging critical thinking and the links between di erent disciplines.

PAUL VANNI Founding Head London

In Design Technology, for example, students will look at practical issues faced by people su ering from rheumatoid arthritis. Building on this, and drawing on skills learnt in Mathematics, Computer Science and IT, they will design – and in some cases build – devices to improve the quality of life of others. Students will be given the guidance to take their ideas and make them accessible. Young people will learn financial literacy and digital marketing. They will also learn to work together to formulate plans and develop ideas, turning them into real business outcomes. Support will be given not just by teachers, but also by local professionals who share our sense of community and our desire to be ethical changemakers. These mentors will work with us to deliver student-led ventures, providing invaluable experience of entrepreneurship and of how to run a start-up business. We will provide the space and the platform at London Park School Clapham. Our students will demonstrate their capacity for understanding and empathy, and their ability to make the world a better place.