TWO students from the Areté sixth form at St Bede’s Catholic College visited Parliament for talks that could influence education policy.
Aleena Thomas and Chris Mathew were invited to a discussion with representatives of businesses, government and charities about Applied Learning.
They were chosen to represent English schools because of their school’s long-term participation in the Young Enterprise programme, an inter-school competition in which students run their own businesses for a year.
Young Enterprise is a great example of Applied Learning and it has partnered with The Entrepreneurs Network, a think tank, and the secretariat of the All-party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Entrepreneurship, to produce a report for MPs.
Chris and Aleena spoke about their experiences with the YE Company Programme in front of MPs Seema Malhotra, who is the Shadow Business Secretary and Anna Firth from the Parliamentary Education Committee, as well as former Education Secretary Justine Greening. Jade Hicks was able to discuss Applied Learning from a teacher’s perspective, as well as wider educational topics.