Marketing Moguls

Three teams of Year 8 girls took part in a Marketing Moguls challenge at the Rural Payments Agency to undertake a marketing challenge using computational thinking skills. The teams first undertook crucial market research of their volunteers’ needs and working styles to find out what features and benefits the employees wanted. Students then went on a tour of the premises, which allowed the teams to see the great variety of jobs within the Agency, and applied abstraction skills to solve GIS and mapping exercises. They learnt about how this approach is used effectively to map areas of land and oversee land usage. The marketing challenge required students to design and market a new product through decomposition and teamwork and separated the tasks in order to produce a pitch to experts at the Rural Payments Agency and DEFRA. They then used evaluation skills to reflect on their computational, problem solving and soft skills.

What they said:

• “These experiences are so important for the students to prepare them for the working world. It shows them that, alongside the academic qualities, you need these essential skills. We never had this at school but every school should be doing this!” – Volunteer, Rural Payments Agency
• “I’ve really enjoyed thinking more about the strategies and approaches to marketing as a whole, rather than just thinking about the finer details. I’ve learnt more about effective marketing to a target market.” – Student, Leighton Park
• “The volunteers have been great at coaching the teams and letting the students lead. The students will have learnt a lot from today, in particular a greater awareness of teamwork and leadership skills, including role allocation. It’s also given them an understanding of different roles within an organisation and the diversity of tasks and employees.” – Teacher, Leighton Park
• “It was lots of fun! The day was so positive and we can actually learn a lot from the way the students were able to make quick decisions with minimal fuss and effective team meetings.” – Volunteer, Rural Payments Agency
• I thought I’d drop you a quick note to say how much I enjoyed working with the girls from Leighton Park School yesterday. While I was producing my materials I had concerns that they might not be willing to engage but how wrong I was! From the outset there was a sea of hands raised and the levels of engagement were impressive. The girls very quickly grasped the concept of risk management and came up with some very perceptive examples of ‘what can go wrong’. All in all, the session was a delight and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did. – Volunteer, Rural Payments Agency