The Artifex Café, featuring the ever-popular Ice Cream Shop and the new Artifex Market, held in Founder’s Court, shone a spotlight on our pupil entrepreneurs during Artifex, our week-long pupil-led arts festival. Tom and Louis (First Year Specialists, Year 12) share their experiences.
As part of this year’s Artifex, pupils came together to launch the Artifex Market — a pupil-led event that gave young entrepreneurs the chance to sell their products and gain a hands-on experience of running a small business.
The market featured a wide variety of stalls, including clothing, home-baked goods, drinks like matcha, and even golf tees. Each stall was run by pupils who had developed their ideas, sourced or made their products, and handled pricing and promotion themselves.
We led the organisation of the event, working with a small team to plan the layout, manage bookings, and coordinate with staff. We handled logistics such as set-up, stall allocations, and ensuring everyone had what they needed on the day. We had an escape room tent externally brought in, and two food trucks selling burgers and crepes, showing some professionalism to aspiring food sellers.
Over 400 people attended, and the atmosphere throughout the day was positive and lively. Pupils, staff, and parents all came to support the event. Live music performance from DJ Hugh helped create an energetic setting, and the level of engagement from both stallholders and visitors was strong.
The event encouraged pupils to take initiative and try something new. Many stallholders were running a business for the first time. They learned about pricing, customer service, and how to promote their products to a real audience. Some sold out completely, and many said they would like to take part again next year.
The Artifex Market showed how creative and resourceful pupils can be when given the opportunity. It was rewarding to see the idea turn into something real, and I’m proud to have played a part in leading it. The feedback from pupils and staff was very positive, and we hope it will return to Artifex next year.
Tom (First Year Specialist, Year 12)
As part of this year’s Artifex Festival, the Artifex Café was a fully pupil-run enterprise that gave us a unique opportunity to experience entrepreneurship first-hand. From ordering ice cream and soft drinks to creating shifts which aligned with the School timetable and sports fixtures, every aspect of the café was led by pupils whilst being supervised by Mr Patel. The team had over 15 pupil volunteers.
This hands-on project gave us valuable insight into the realities of running a business. We learned about health and safety and allergies, we developed our customer service skills, and we even handled the pressure of long queues during peak times between performances at the Wave. It was a genuine test of teamwork, adaptability, and time management.
As a team, we’re proud to report that the café was a resounding success: every item on the menu sold out, and the operation turned a profit. It was incredibly rewarding to see that our planning paid off and that our efforts to market the café were effective.
Overall, the Artifex Café was more than just a food stall; it was a chance to bring entrepreneurial ideas to life and learn valuable skills we’ll carry far beyond the festival.
Louis (First Year Specialist, Year 12)
