Tag: social value

Menetoring the Next Generation

Shaped by Solent is a fantastic local initiative that gives students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) from Solent Academies Trust, City of Portsmouth College, and Havant & South Downs College the opportunity to take part in valuable business mentorship programmes.

A range of local businesses partner with Shaping Portsmouth to deliver a series of classes, sharing their expertise and providing unique insights into potential career opportunities – many of which the students may never have previously considered.

At Hampshire Flag Company, we contributed to the scheme in 2025, mentoring a group of students from City of Portsmouth College over a three-month period.

All in all, we delivered seven sessions (each lasting 2.5 hours), which included in-lesson mentoring, offsite mentoring, product creation, and presentation skills training.

Rod Sessions, our Commercial Director, led the team – which included Rosie James, our Creative Artworker, and Mark Allibone, our Strategic Operations Manager. The team tasked students with creating a product for under £10, inspired by the upcoming Portsmouth100 year-long celebrations. Everything had to be built from scratch – from concept to construction – and, for the final task, their products were judged (and sold!) at the Shaping Portsmouth Conference.

We supported the students through every step as they undertook:

• Brainstorming
• Mood board creation
• Theme and potential product research
• Product feasibility research
• Product selection and decision making
• Manufacturing methods research
• Economic analysis of costs, sales prices, and profit margins
• Competitor product analysis
• Marketing
• Presentation of the final product and bringing it to market

We wanted to ensure that every student experienced every part of our business – not just the more physically demanding aspects they might have initially associated us with.

At the start of the process, the students were quiet and found it difficult to communicate clearly with one another. But by the end, they were confidently presenting to a group of strangers, explaining why they had chosen their product, how it met the brief, and even outlining the expected profit margins.

It was inspiring to watch their confidence flourish before our eyes. They made huge progress over the three months, and we hope they feel they’ve gained some new skills for the future.

Rosie James, our Creative Artworker, speaks highly of the experience:

“Working creatively with students from the City of Portsmouth College’s SEND department demonstrates to me how opportunities like Shaped by Solent can have such a positive impact on students’ confidence. I am very proud to have been part of the team mentoring the students, and to watch them grow in confidence over our time together.”

We were also delighted to hear from the CEO of City of Portsmouth College after the programme, who told us how wonderful it is for their college to be more closely involved in the city in this way.