Helping Hull Children to Blossom

St Stephen's Shopping Centre is working in partnership with Kingston-upon-Hull City Council on a revolutionary scheme to help primary school children develop enterprise skills for the future.

Make£5 Blossom was launched at 9.30am on Monday 2nd February 2009 at a ceremony at the Guildhall. Lord Mayor of Kingston-Upon-Hull city council Cllr Elaine Garland opened the ceremony. The award winning Make£5 Blossom scheme was developed in Rotherham and has been a fantastic success. The scheme works to develop enterprise, entrepreneurship and business skills in school children. Kingston-upon-Hull has been specifically chosen to be the second area in the UK to take part in the project. The programme is being implemented in partnership with Hull Metropolitan Council.

St Stephen's Centre Manager David Laycock said of the scheme: 'We are absolutely delighted to be involved in the Make£5 Blossom project. This breakthrough scheme will have a great impact on inspiring children in our city and improving the business and enterprise skills of the next generation. I am very proud that St Stephen's has been able to facilitate this project.'

St Stephen's is facilitating the project by providing the loans of £150 to each school taking part. This loan will be continually re-invested into the scheme so that it can be extended to give the opportunity to more and more schools in the area. St Stephen's has also recruited retailers from around the city to become enterprise champions and will work closely with Kingston-Upon-Hull City Council throughout the project. Councillor Christine Randall Deputy Leader of Kingston-Upon-Hull City Council said: 'This is a fantastic opportunity for Kingston upon Hull businesses to work together to give our children the opportunity to develop business and enterprise skills that will help them to build successful futures.'

The Make£5 Blossom project works by giving a class of primary school children £5 each. They will then think of their own enterprising ideas to make a profit from their money. Each school will have an enterprise champion from one of the retailers taking part in the scheme. The enterprise champion will act as a mentor to the school and will meet with their designated class to give support and advice.

The children will then celebrate their success with their mentors at a VIP celebration at the end of the project

Schools taking part in the first round of the scheme are Holy Name Primary School, St Nicholas Primary School, Thorpepark Primary School, Longhill Primary School, Stockwell Primary School, Rokeby Park Primary School, Alderman Cogan Primary School, St Charles Primary School and Victoria Park Primary School.

At the launch of the scheme, these schools will be individually matched with an enterprise champion from one of the retailers taking part in the scheme. Retailers have been specifically recruited to the scheme by St Stephen's and include Hugh Rice Jewellers, The Body Shop, Orange, Pumpkin Patch, Peacocks, Build a Bear workshop, House of Fraser, Debenhams and Hollyhocks Florist. Project Manager Mike Notarantonio said, 'We're excited by the prospect of what this project can mean for children and young people in Kingston-Upon-Hull. We've got a terrific model on which to build our own successes and we look forward to watching our young people, Make£5 Blossom.' Find out more at www.ststephens-hull.com

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