Havering schools entered the dragons’ den to present some of their most impressive and innovative ideas.
Six secondary and five primary and SEND schools pitched their impressive social enterprise ideas to an expert panel at Havering Town Hall.
The Dragons’ Den event provides an opportunity for pupils to gain professional advice on their social enterprise business ideas.
The young entrepreneurs honed their public speaking skills, and the dragons gained valuable insights into the issues that matter most to the next generation.
Social enterprise ideas pitched on the day included an app to make people feel safer in certain areas of Havering, a gardening initiative to get young people away from their phones, a music production label celebrating local diversity, mental health care boxes and an upcycling scheme that uses crisp packets to make keychains.
The overall winners of the Secondary Dragons’ Den were We Care Collective from Sanders Draper School winning £100.
However, the dragons were blown away by the pitches and also recognised:
- Gentleman Games at Sanders Draper School for Best Product
- Corbets Tey School for Most Developed Enterprise
- Safe Steps at Harris Academy Rainham for Most Powerful Pitch
- SAT Productions at Harris Academy Rainham for Community Champions
Each school was awarded £50.
The overall winners of the Primary Dragons’ Den were Memo from Hilldene Primary School winning £100.
However, Drapers’ Maylands School were also recognised for being Social Visionaries, and Towers Infants and Junior School for the Best Environmental Enterprise, each receiving £50.
The schools will go on to attend the Havering Marketplace to sell and promote their social enterprises to guests.
The Marketplace will take place at Hilldene Primary School on Friday 6 June 2025 and is an exciting first of its kind for Social Enterprise Schools highlighting all the social entrepreneurs in the Havering area.
Councillor Oscar Ford, Havering’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said:
“I was very impressed with the incredible creativity expressed by our pupils and I can only imagine how difficult it was for the dragons to choose the winning schools.
"Congratulations to each and every one of them for their ideas and the time they spent in making this both an enjoyable and interesting event.”
Maya Wenzel, Delivery Lead (England and Wales) at the Social Enterprise Academy, said:
“This is the third year we are running our Havering Dragons’ Den, and I am consistently blown away by the calibre of initiatives being launched in the area.
"It is one of my favourite parts of my job to see the next generation of social entrepreneurs in action.
"They all shared creative and thoughtful responses to local social and environmental issues and have a great future ahead of them.”