Academic Enrichment: Digital Inquiry in Action

As part of Caterham School’s Digital Inquiry course, Friday 10 January saw 90 of our Lower Sixth pupils visit to the TMRW Hub in Croydon, a co-working space for start-ups at various phases of development. Whilst there we attended talks from Francois Mazoudier (TMRW’s founder) and Gi Fernando MBE, both of whom are highly successful entrepreneurs and investors. They told us about their own experiences of entrepreneurship and how to succeed in that space.

What was so fascinating about their advice to our pupils was how applicable it was to so many others parts of our lives. Some of their top pieces of advice were:

• Be flexible
• Understand that you don’t need to have all the skills, as long as you can find other people to share your vision
• Ask for help
• Seek out criticism so that you can build a better idea
• Understand the importance of body language when working with other people

The Digital Inquiry cohort then heard from a number of start-ups working at TMRW, before pitching their own project ideas to Gi and Francois for feedback. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and one which gave our pupils invaluable access to people willing to invest time in their own journey with idea development, as well as giving them further opportunities to collaborate and think in a very different way.

The Digital Inquiry course continues this term as our Lower Sixth build further skills whilst developing their own ideas and products in time for final presentations next term.