ASPIRING entrepreneurs at an education centre in Swindon might find Alan Sugar chasing after them to be his next business partner after pulling off a successful event that would put the current cohort of would-be apprentices on the BBC show to shame.

Students at the Stratton Education Centre researched, planned and successfully pulled off a Christmas craft event to help them pay for new equipment at the school

The Stratton Education Centre is an Education Other Than School facility that caters for pupils with behavioural, emotional or social difficulties.

Along with their regular studies in English, maths and science under the guidance of a team of teachers specialising in behavioural difficulties the students also work on a number of pre-vocational modules to prepare them either for work or further education.

Pupils working on their enterprise module have been looking at setting up their own businesses, and put their skills into practice to host their own event on Friday.

Teaching assistant Saxone Barton said the event had been a real success. She said: “They had to carry out research to find out the sort of Christmas gifts people wanted to buy as Christmas presents so they knew what to create for their bazaar.

“Whenever they wanted to make something they had to look at the risks of doing it and create a risk assessment and learnt how to write formal and informal letters to invite people to come along. They really had to work as a team to make the project work.”

Among some of the things the students made for sale were candle holders, Christmas decorations and table decorations.

Saxone added: “It is all about boosting their confidence and showing them that it is something they can achieve and hopefully make them want to achieve more.”

The event raised £150 which will be spent on new school equipment to keep the students occupied during break times.