As part of National Apprenticeship Week in February, five year 9 pupils participated in PETA’s Apprentice vs Dragons Den competition to build, develop, and pitch their idea to address a pressing issue in today’s society.
The team were awarded 'Best Business’ in the competition and collaborated with Hampshire Constabulary, who provided valuable insights and resources to support the team with their campaign.
The team did exceptionally well throughout the competition, which included schools from across the South Coast.
Sabriha said it was really good to work with the police, who also sent representatives to their presentation in the final, saying, “We started off by emailing the police for advice and support on how to develop our idea—which we know is an issue across the country—and they were really supportive and came in to meet us.
“The police came in to show us knife pouches and tubes, which they use for evidence and to keep the knife safely stored away, so it was good to see how they work directly with knives to reduce crime.”
The proposal for the app developed by the team was to benefit the community by providing individuals with an opportunity to address any knife crime issues without fear or discrimination.
Tajkia said: “I think it’s really important to be able to respond to knife crime without fear. Some people can be scared of speaking up about something they know isn’t right, so we wanted to create this app to encourage people to engage with helping reduce this problem across the UK.”
Congratulations and well done to Sabriha, Tajkia, Abdur, Nevaeh, and Daniela for their successful project and raising awareness about the dangers of knife crime.
For more information about knife crime awareness, and youth support services available, go to https://crimestoppers-uk.org/fearless/more-info/crime-types-explained/knife-crime