Livery Hat Trick for Crayford Academy

Haberdashers’ Students Impress at the Livery Academy Awards Heats

On Tuesday 9 December, sixth form students from across our four secondary schools gathered at Haberdashers’ Hall to take part in the Livery Academy Awards Heats—an exciting evening designed to showcase innovation, teamwork and entrepreneurial talent. Each team was challenged to pitch a fully formed business idea with the aim of securing a place at the prestigious Livery Academy Awards Grand Final at Mansion House in January, where they will represent the Haberdashers’ Company against other Livery schools.

The Livery Academy Awards is a well-established programme designed to strengthen links between City Livery Companies and state schools by developing business and enterprise skills among sixth form students. Originating with the Grocers’ Company in 2013, it has since expanded to include the Merchant Taylors’, Haberdashers’ and Fishmongers’ Companies. The programme continues to gather momentum, with more Livery Companies expressing interest in joining in future years.

A Challenge with Real Commercial Focus

This year's brief was to ‘create a product or business which will encourage individual aspiration and boost job or career opportunities for the school leaver’.

Students were tasked with developing a business or product capable of attracting up to £2 million of investment. Their idea needed to offer a clear benefit to a community, use technology creatively, and demonstrate genuine commercial potential. Each team assigned roles to research, develop and plan their product or service, producing financial projections, growth plans and a clear explanation of the technology involved. A panel of judges assessed not only the originality of the idea, but also the quality of the presentation, the robustness of the business plan, and how convincingly the team handled questions.

To support them in preparing industry-standard pitches, teams received mentoring from professionals working in finance, marketing, advertising and the creative sectors—many of whom are members of the Livery Companies.

Our Schools’ Business Pitches

• Crayford Academy: Søren Speech: a microphone providing real-time feedback to improve speech clarity

• Hatcham College – Launchpad: an AI-powered platform connecting school leavers to career opportunities

• Borough Academy – Pathway: an app linking young people with mentors and employers through curated AI pathways

• Knights Academy: Inspirease: a personalised career-discovery and future planning app for 16+ students

A Hat-trick for Crayford

After an impressive set of presentations, Crayford Academy was announced as the winner of the Heats for the third consecutive year—a remarkable achievement that reflects the confidence, clarity and creativity shown by the team. Crayford will now go on to represent the Haberdashers’ Company in the Grand Final in January at Mansion House, hosted by the Mayor of the City of London.

We wish the team every success as they prepare to compete against students from other Livery schools at this landmark event in the City calendar.