Ashton Highlights Newsletter 29
Friday 22nd May 2015
Dear Readers As another half term draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on the diversity of talent that we are lucky enough to have amongst the staff and students of Ashton. Last Friday, Mrs Hoyle, Dr Walmsley and I were invited to be “Dragons” in the year 9 challenge day, which had a Dragon’s Den approach to a project the students were asked to undertake. It was quite daunting to be faced with 7 teams, each pitching a different product and hoping to be declared the winner. Although each team had the same brief, the designs that they presented to us were very different. The quality of the presentations, the creativity of the designs and the thought and planning that had gone into the presentations that were made was outstanding. Alan Sugar said "The entrepreneurial instinct is in you. You can't learn it, you can't buy it, you can't put it in a bottle. It's just there and it comes out." Well who am I to argue; there was an awful lot of entrepreneurial instinct coming out last Friday. The very notion of inventing something that can be marketed and used by the masses is an interesting one. I’m sure we all have some brilliantly simple gadgets at home that we couldn’t live without. Recently, I bought myself a small electric food chopper and every time I use it, I declare that it has changed my life. I have spent years fighting back tears as I chop onions, shredding my fingers as I grate cheese and other vegetables and wincing with pain as I get chilli into one of the ever present paper cuts on my fingers. This is all a thing of the past now though, now that I have discovered this brilliantly simple invention. Thomas Edison (inventor of the light bulb, amongst other things) said, “I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others... I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent." He makes it sound so easy! As the second bank holiday of May approaches, I hope you enjoy doing whatever it is that makes you happy – and if the thought of our year 9’s rising to the challenge of inventing inspires you, I also hope your bank holiday proves to be a fruitful one! Best wishes Sharon Asquith Principal
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