Entrepreneurship Diploma

Old Carthusians go on to do the most wonderful things, working in a vast number of sectors and industries.

Increasingly, we see a move away from the ‘traditional’ professions as our innovative and creative alumni go on to develop their own new initiatives, starting their own successful businesses, and spotting new gaps in the market. The number of OC entrepreneurs continues to grow steadily year on year (despite a global pandemic and its effects!) which is perhaps unsurprising given how the skills of an entrepreneur align so well with the skills of our pupils. Inquisitive, creative, analytical … our pupils show all these in abundance so it is only right that the School adapt to nurture these and bring entrepreneurship to the curriculum.

The new addition of a Charterhouse Entrepreneurship Diploma is not just about teaching entrepreneurial skills, it’s also about preparing Carthusians for future work, talking them through real challenges and real problems. The course is designed to give them proper exposure to some of the technologies that they will be faced with, as well as the challenges that surround them. Topics such as GDPR, social media, cyber security and AI (among others) are all real, live issues that they will face in their first jobs outside of university and should they wish to start a business.

The syllabus encourages the pupils to go from absolutely nothing to identifying a potential opportunity, and solutions to any problems with it, through to testing this opportunity. This then becomes the kernel of the start of an idea which they take through the market research process, the business planning process and then the pitching process. At each stage the idea is discussed and tested through very lively peer to peer interaction. The course is intended to be a mixture of directed learning and freedom to explore, to feel less like a structured lesson but more an open forum. It’s designed to tick a lot of boxes in terms of developing skills such as self-awareness, creativity, teamwork, networking, communication and presentation skills among others.

The curriculum and activities are directed predominantly at the Specialists, as is the Charterhouse Entrepreneurship Diploma, although avenues are being explored as to how to bring this dimension to the Under School. The intention is not to make the younger years overly businessminded in a ‘shirt and tie’ sense but to make them more financially literate, teaching core finance skills that are relevant to them – think Klarna rather than mortgages.

There are a number of activities and events also attached to the entrepreneurship curriculum. The lecture series is open to everyone in the School, complementing the ‘taught’ element. There’s been a vast range of speakers including entrepreneur and angel investor Simon Squibb, through to our own entrepreneurial OCs like Mark Fischel (g13), founder of Aklimate. There are also less formal activities, such as the ‘Office Hours’ initiative, which allow pupils a safe space to come and discuss their own ideas for start-ups without fear of judgement.

A number of corporate collaborations are also in the pipeline, with the first launching this year with Microsoft. OC Alex East (R08) leads our OC Tech

“The Charterhouse Entrepreneurship Diploma is not just about teaching entrepreneurial skills, it’s also about preparing Carthusians for future work.”

Lecture Theatre

Business Leadership and Entrepreneurship Centre

Society and has worked at Microsoft for over eight years. With his help, Microsoft and a further third party, have created a low code / no code programme teaching app creation with either limited or no code. The programme will be rolled out to 15 – 20 Specialists and will be delivered over 10 weeks during which time they will learn how to build a prototype app, and receive an official Microsoft certificate, which they can then promote on their LinkedIn profiles.

In order to facilitate this new teaching the School is in the process of fundraising for a Business Leadership and Entrepreneurship Centre, which will be located in the very centre of the School. Within it, there will be a large break out space, meeting rooms with video conferencing and AV facilities, a seminar room for taught content (plus all School societies and the Enquiry series will have their home here), and a new look Lecture Theatre for the speaker series and for wider School use. Fundraising has been completed on the first phase of the project, being the new look Lecture Theatre, and this building is due to be completed by September 2022. The Hub will be a game changing facility for the School, and will facilitate the move to becoming the most entrepreneurial school in the world.

The Charterhouse Entrepreneurship Diploma

Start something

Taught course

All Carthusians commit to this. This could be as simple as doing something at Artifex, or launching a new society, newsletter or their own start up.

“It is hoped that the

School will end up being the model for lots of other schools.” 1 Get 3 involved

Be involved in something entrepreneurship / business related. This could be an adjacent society (Investment for example) or committee, or doing their EPQ on something related (e.g. the rise of Tik Tok). 2 41 Once these are all completed they enter the pitch process to earn their graduation