Enterprise & Employability
Ardingly College Prep is Named Most Innovative Prep School in the UK in recognition of the outstanding Enterprise & Employability programme in our Prep School!
Career Exploration
This academic year, Ardingly students have had over 500 career related events to choose from across all sectors.
As part of their enrichment programme, for instance, Shell students have taken part in virtual work experience, gaining certificates of completion. Year 7 to Year 11 students have learned employability skills in their PSHE lessons and completed psychometric testing to ascertain which career path to explore based on their interests and values.
Our sixth form students, as part of their Life Skills programme, have developed their communication, presentation and interview skills, learned how to write a CV and discovered the importance of business etiquette. In addition to this, they have taken part in live university subject taster lectures to transition into the new way of learning they will embrace at university.
Highlights from our award-winning Enterprise & Employability programme, where all our students work towards completing their World Ready passports, include:
Imperial College Innovation Competition
We are delighted to report that four Ardingly sixth formers, Victor Michel, Parker Chan, Andrea Fontanesi and Ivan Osipov, won Imperial College’s Innovation Challenge. The Ardingly team beat 2000 applicants from across four countries with their business idea to solve global poverty using AI. This was the culmination of several months of hard work and dedication in honing their idea, business pitch and presentation skills. Their prize included being mentored by Imperial College Entrepreneur’s Society, and connecting with business leaders, venture capitalists and seed funders to bring their project to life.
Take a Risk, 2026
This was the 18th year of Take a Risk, our annual enterprise competition for our Lower Sixth students. Eight teams of students worked with real-world business mentors over three weeks to plan, design and then pitch their business idea to our panel of distinguished judges. Congratulations to the winning team, Fleep, who successfully pitched their device to wake those who are hard of hearing in the event of a fire. They fought off some very tough competition and provided eloquent answers to the judge's interrogating questions!
The Uber Challenge
We were delighted that Ardingly’s team of Daria Hess and Emilie Schreiter were crowned overall winners in this year’s Uber Challenge. Competing against schools in the UK and overseas, this year’s task was to immerse themselves in the world of account management to research, produce and present a pitch for Uber Eats to local restaurants
UCL’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy
Given Ardingly’s national reputation for providing an outstanding Enterprise & Employability programme, our students were invited to participate in UCL’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy. Our students spent 16 weeks learning first hand from real world business founders, which was an invaluable experience.
Telegraph Media Literacy Programme
One of our students, Nathan Wong, was selected to take part in The Telegraph’s Media Literacy programme (one of around 30 students nationwide, from hundreds of applications.) He participated in several sessions, led by The Telegraph’s editors and journalists, about the changing media landscape and received lots of advice on how to build a career in the media industry.
Lower School Careers Fair
Our Year 8 students had the chance to meet professionals from a wide range of industries at their Careers Fair. They explored future options in fields as diverse as Law, Leadership Consulting, Airline Operations, Child Surgery, Human Resources, Pharmacy, Finance, Social Media and Documentary Making – to name but a few.
Gap Year Fair
Our Gap Year Fair was a resounding success, where 7 providers of opportunities presented to students and answered their questions. Over 200 students attended and the providers were very impressed with their engagement and enthusiasm.
Future Options Week
Our second annual Future Options Week took place in the Lent term and included a wide variety of options including several sessions and workshops around the theme of entrepreneurship in action, run by business founders, as well as university subject taster lessons and other workshops around applying to universities.
Ardingly College Prep’s Enterprise & Employability Festival.
The Prep School’s Enterprise and Employability Festival gave pupils inspiration and practical examples to help them think about their futures. We hosted parents from lots of different sectors, who spoke to the children about their work; from surgeons to pilots. We set Dragons Den style challenges and presentations, as well as running practical solar powered car activities. Even our youngest children got involved and were encouraged to come into school dressed as their “future self”; we had astronauts and artists, as well as CEOs and Olympic sports stars!
Life Skills Week
Life Skills Week this year provided a packed programme of over 40 activities for our Senior School students. These varied for different year groups but included Leadership Training, ‘The Apprentice Challenge’, Negotiating Skills, How to Make your CV Stand Out, the Elevator Pitch Battle, University ‘Speed Dating’ and a Graduate Assessment Workshop.