KidsMBA at Belmont, Mill Hill Prep School

About the school

Belmont, Mill Hill Preparatory School is a co-educational school which is part of the Mill Hill Education Group, a collective of some of the best British Independent Day and Boarding Schools. Belmont currently educates 567 pupils from the ages of 7-13. Belmont develops thoughtful, motivated and responsible young people with a global outlook. Their pupils are excited by the challenge of learning; they help them to thrive and find their own path to happiness and success through the range of opportunities presented by the Mill Hill Education Group.

For more information, visit: www.millhill.org.uk/belmont

Future skills programme

Belmont aims to equip pupils for now and in the future, aiming to get the right balance between the acquisition of knowledge but also ensuring that pupils acquire important skills for the everchanging future.  It does this through a rich Future Skills Curriculum. The programme aims to develop the 4 Cs of 21st Century Learning: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Thinking as well as 3 of its own Cs that it considers essential in pupils’ education: Calmness, Compassion and Character. To achieve this goal, it has integrated a variety of engaging activities into the curriculum, ensuring that pupils receive exposure to all of the 7Cs. 

ABE Endorsed KidsMBA at Belmont

The ABE Endorsed KidsMBA programme has formed part of our Future Skills Curriculum since the start of the academic year 2021-22. The programme is taught to our cohort of 140 Year 8 pupils during a 50-minute lesson, once per week, over a 12 week period. ABE Endorsed KidsMBA provides children with a practical introduction to business, offering insights into the life skills, knowledge, aptitude and mindset necessary for entrepreneurship and we saw it as a fantastic opportunity for children to develop the 7C’s and build real skills for the future. Once all pupils have completed the programme and pupils finish their summer examinations, we run a 4 day lead up to the Shark Tank Event where pupils immerse themselves in their business ideas, fine tuning them and spend time organising their pitches. As well as recapping the content of the ABE Endorsed KidsMBA programme, we aim to inspire and enrich the pupils’ knowledge through trips, workshops and guest speakers.

Linking enrichment activity to KidsMBA

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In summer 2023, we visited The Design Museum where pupils engaged in a sustainability workshop and used their knowledge to include an element of sustainability in their business ideas. We have had a variety of guest speakers ranging from talks all about public speaking, real-life business entrepreneurs’ experiences to a parent who has been a real-life Dragon’s Den contestant themselves! The 4 days culminate in the pupils first pitching their ideas to their form groups, with two groups from each form going through to the final Shark Tank Event and pitching their business in front of a panel of judges. 

Going on the Future Entrepreneur of the Year

Three of Belmont’s finalist groups had the opportunity to go through to the Global Final competing with other pupils participating in ABE Endorsed KidsMBA from around the world. Videos of the group's pitches were judged by an external panel of business expert judges who were very impressed with all the pitches. It was such a tough job for them to choose a winner that they decided on having a second place this year, something which has not happened before. The runners up for 2023 were ‘Twice Wear’ from Belmont who narrowly missed out on first place. A huge congratulations to the runners up Alba, Charlotte and Valentina who came up with an innovative idea to create an app where school uniform can be sold and bought. As runners up the team received $500 to spend on their business idea.  

Pupil voice and outcomes

At Belmont, we believe pupil voice is integral in all aspects of school life. We have surveyed our pupils to find out what they have learnt, how they have developed the 7C’s and what they have enjoyed about the course. The results were clear, the pupils thoroughly enjoy the programme and believe it prepares them for the future world of work. The data we collected was very positive with pupils mentioning that they had developed ‘skills on how to develop a successful business’, ‘resilience when working through problems’, ‘public speaking skills,’ ‘negotiating as part of a team, especially when you don’t all agree’. It is evident that pupils find the programme beneficial and enjoyable and an added benefit is that they all receive a recognised certificate from ABE.