Northampton students meet former Dragons' Den star at enterprise competition launch

Students from Northampton Academy came face-to-face with Theo Paphitis at the Ryman National Enterprise Challenge Launch in Covent Garden last month following a win from key-stage four students last year.

The event, which was hosted by the successful businessman, addressed the previous winners ‘Vendinary’ directly.

Theo Paphitis said: “Northampton Academy has pulled at my heartstrings and believe me, they are hard to find.”

The 2016 challenge saw the team tasked with creating the ultimate school-based business where they designed a pop-up stationery shop that would further develop into a vending machine as the business grew.

The school told the Chronicle & Echo that the students were very excited and enjoyed a fantastic evening featuring talks from all the challenge supporters and the ambassador of the competition, former ‘Dragon’ Theo Paphitis.

The prize included the opportunity to go into business with Theo on this project, a day out with Red Letter Days as well as a trip to Alton Towers to meet the designer of their new ride Galactica.

The key-stage-three team, who designed a new outdoor attraction for Kingswood outdoor Dearne Valley activity centre in Yorkshire, came runners-up