Last week, royalty graced the halls of Malet Lambert School. His Royal Highness (HRH), Prince Andrew, Duke of York, visited our school for a Youth Enterprise event, celebrating all the wonderful business and education opportunities available for the young people of Hull.
Year 11 pupils and Student Voice reporters Jess & Eryn managed to speak to HRH, and here they tell us about his visit:
‘On the 1st October, we had a very special guest visit our school. Prince Andrew was due to make an appearance after recent events concerning a small group of students from Malet Lambert, Sirius Academy and Gillshill Primary School.
Earlier in the year, they had been to London to present an enterprise board game they had designed, and the Duke of York was now travelling up to come and see us at our very own school.
While the students and teachers were waiting in anticipation for his appearance, we got to take a look at the different businesses that turned up.
There were a dozen different businesses showing off their work. As we wandered around we were able to see how the Youth Enterprise Bank had been investing in new companies, and we really were impressed by what we saw.
The businesses and events included: 'Mugs and Tees', 'Thoresby School Enterprise Fair', 'Pixie Face Products', 'MixEd', 'Lab Rascals', 'ApplePear - Core Education', 'Weasie Wears', 'Gillshill Enterprise board game', 'Bags of Rags', 'Theloui Promotions' and 'Xing Smoothies'.
At around 2:10pm, we saw the car pull into the gates and we knew that Prince Andrew had arrived. The first place that he visited was the conference room with a group of staff from Malet Lambert School, Youth Enterprise and a number of top business professionals who are involved in enterprise education in Hull.
He then gave a talk to the Year 10 students in the hall – an inspiring speech about staying strong and carrying on through times of hardship. Also in the assembly, an ensemble of children from Victoria Dock School performed a song about how they love to be enterprising.
The Duke of York returned back to the Forum to look around all the business stalls that had been set up. He went to every business and talked to the creators and owners of them - he seemed to genuinely care and was interested about how they got to where they were.
Not only did he listen, but he asked questions about what gave them the ideas to start their own companies and asked about their lives to try and get to know everyone a little bit better.
Ross Bennett, chairman of Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership, said, “The event held today was a great networking opportunity, especially for the younger generation as they can be shown how success can be made from an entrepreneur at a young age.”
Ross also said, “It was amazing to have the prince in the school as it’s another medium for having our enterprise skills heard and as he was here, it means that we must be impressing people, and that might get us nationally noticed.”
Loui Fowler, previous Head Boy at Malet and company director at Theloui Promotions, said, "It's a good idea to have small businesses gathered together to greet the prince. The opportunity to have him here was unbelievable and really brought up the importance and validation of enterprise, especially for the young entrepreneurs that were at the event today."
Finally, we were given the opportunity to speak to HRH and asked him about the school and the local enterprise. He had this to say to us: “Universities and schools in Hull have shown to me how enterprising and challenging they can be when they face business or problems. Enterprise gives benefits such as better jobs and even better life skills.
“Local solutions and national problems all link back to having some sort of enterprise experience, and this city has shown me how they maximise these skills to enhance their capabilities. I find Malet to be excellent and outstanding school, with obvious skills running through all ages. The school is amazing and has shown how impressive it can be from my short visit.”