newsletter issue 9 spring 2008

COCA COLA Champions

Six schools from the south of the borough competed to be Coca Cola champions in an enterprise event co-organised by Hillingdon Business Forum, Hillingdon Education Business Partnership and Coca Cola and part funded by Hillingdon Community Trust.

Guru Nanak, Harlington Community School, Mellow Lane, Rosedale College, Stockley Academy & Uxbridge College all participated in the Coca Cola Enterprise Challenge in the autumn term. The launch of the initiative began in September when teachers from each school took part in a training day at the Coca Cola Factory, Edmonton. Eight teachers were given a challenge for their students, in teams of six, to write a report suggesting improved environmental practices within the factory. Over 1500 students took part and the teams in the school from years 10, 11, 12 & 13 had eight weeks to put together their reports, which were collected at the end of the first half term.

Kathryn Maher from the EBP and Julia Fitzgerald from the Business Forum then judged all entries and announced the two winning teams for the finals from each school for both categories; years 10 & 11 and years 12 & 13. The finals were held on the 13th and 14th November at the BA Concorde club in Heston and were upported on both days by volunteers from Coca Cola Enterprises to support teams as mentors. On both days the teams were given the opportunity to design a brand new soft drink for Coca Cola around the 2012 Olympics and the Environment.

The teams with their mentors – including a teacher team - had to come up with a company name, logo and branding for their new idea which also included designing a poster, recording a radio advert with Hayes FM star Gerard from the Breakfast Show and pitching their final presentation to a team of judges.
The standard was very high but Harlington Community School’s year 10 and 11 team came out on top in the finals, and Uxbridge College’s drink Grapple came top of the class in the sixth form competition.

Mo Farah, European Cross Country Silver medallist presented the students from Uxbridge College with their prizes of Nano iPods and Coca Cola goodie bags, as well as giving all the participants an inspiring talk around commitment and dedication. Laraine Smith, Principal of Uxbridge College, said: “We are delighted to be the winners of this competition testing entrepreneurial and team skills, especially when up against such tough competition as the Guru Nanak team, who came second. The Coca-Cola Challenge has proved a great opportunity for students from The Academy at Uxbridge College, which teaches A-levels and GCSEs, to show that they can compete and survive in the real world as well as achieving in their academic studies.”