St Paul’s Way pupils make bee-line for famous Borough Market selling honey

Forget Alan Sugar—pupils became apprentice traders for the day at the famous Borough food market near London Bridge.

The Schools Enterprise Challenge, a programme to help older children learn enterprise and employability skills, had pupils from St Paul’s Way Trust School in Bow Common creating their own food dishes as part of Urban Food Fortnight for locally-produced food and drink.

They sold honey they extracted and bottled themselves, helping develop their enterprise skills and finding out first hand what being a market trader is really like.

The market’s demonstration kitchen became the ‘enterprise’ kitchen for the day, as students whipped up Bangladeshi street food.

“The event really helped develop their ‘entrepreneur’ skills,” executive head-teacher Grahame Price said.

“It inspired them to develop food-related businesses which made their confidence grow during the day.

“The market provided them with this chance. Programmes like this, we hope, will give them that extra spark to ignite east London’s entrepreneurial talent.”

The challenge, which is part of the government’s programme to boost careers in the leisure, tourism and hospitality industry, uses the food trade and the busy market environment to inspire entrepreneurship.

Borough Market managing director Keith Davis said: “This project is an opportunity for youngsters to learn more about the food business and get a real ‘taste’ of what it’s like to work as a market trader.”

St Paul’s Way pupils raised close to £200, which is going towards setting up the school’s own beehives.