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Welcome from Sherborne School's Director of Entrepreneurship, Ben Keene
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Sherborne Schools Group
Sherborne
Startups
Entrepreneurship in action across Sherborne Schools Group.
Five hundred years of forming character, pointed at what's next. This is where pupils, staff and a community of founders build real things — and where we show our working, term by term.
Heritage + Innovation/Pupils + Founders
Why now
Why entrepreneurship, why now
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The world our pupils are growing into rewards the people who can spot an opportunity, make something real, and lead others to it. Those aren't fixed traits — they're skills, and they can be taught.
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Heritage and innovation aren't opposites. Sherborne has spent centuries building courage, curiosity and character. Entrepreneurship is how we aim it forward — Prep to Sixth Form, girls and boys, day and boarding.
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No buzzwords, no pretend businesses. Real briefs, real ventures, real setbacks and second attempts. A mindset running through the Group, not a module bolted on.
How it fits
How it fits Sherborne
Entrepreneurship is one of the five pillars of the Sherborne Schools Group strategy — not a club, but a thread through the whole Group, developed in partnership across our schools and with our work on AI and digital fluency.
“Alan Turing sat these same lessons a century ago. The question now: who's next — and what will they build?”
Programmes
What we run
The things we run, every term. Clubs, competitions and conversations where pupils learn to build.
Turing Time
A fortnightly club where pupils get hands-on with AI and emerging tech — building, testing, breaking things, and learning fast.
Sherborne Shark Tank
Our pitch competition. Pupils develop a real idea, make the case, and face the questions — for Boys, Girls and Prep.
Global AI Hackathon
An international, cross-school hackathon where pupils team up to build AI solutions against the clock. Sherborne pupils, building alongside the world.
Talks
Founders, makers and leaders sharing the real story of building something — the setbacks as well as the wins.
Events
Where we're convening
Where we're gathering — and where we're showing up. Come and join us.
Turing Conference
A gathering of leaders from tech, education and industry, marking the centenary of Alan Turing's arrival at Sherborne. Hosted here in Dorset.
Canva AI
Learning from the team building creative AI tools at scale.
Offscript
Where the next generation of founders and builders gather.
Ventures
Ideas becoming real
The first things being built at Sherborne.
Venture one
Turing Tutor
The first venture built at Sherborne — the first of many we hope. Turing Tutor is an AI-powered learning platform: a personal tutor for every pupil, developed in-house. It works alongside teachers — spotting where a pupil is stuck, adapting to how each child learns, and giving staff a clearer picture of progress. Named for the Old Shirburnian who imagined thinking machines a century before they arrived. Proof that Sherborne doesn't only teach enterprise. It builds it.
Community
Founders in our community
Entrepreneurship at Sherborne isn't only what happens in the classroom. It's the parents building businesses in Dorset and beyond, and the network our pupils are growing up inside — how ideas here find their way into the real world.
In our parent community
Reading Roots
Reading Roots turns teaching your child to read from a daily battle into something families look forward to. Built by a teacher of fifteen years and mum of three, its award-winning Phonics App has passed 350,000 downloads and reached a community over a million strong — now the UK's number-one early reading creator. Edtech built by a parent, solving a problem every parent knows.
Aller Dorset
When Cat and Ant Earp swapped London for the family farm, they built something the Dorset countryside didn't know it needed — four hand-designed shepherd's huts that turned a field into one of the county's most-loved escapes. From an idea in 2021 to a devoted following and a spin-off design studio, it's a masterclass in brand, taste and backing yourself.
From the wider Sherborne network
Blue Earth Summit
What began as a single event in Bristol is now one of the UK's biggest gatherings for climate and impact — thousands of founders, investors and changemakers in one room with a single question: how do we build businesses that are good for people and planet? Co-founded by the Hayler brothers, Blue Earth is proof that purpose and scale aren't opposites.
On the horizon
Where this is going
Our ambition, stated plainly and built in the open.
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Entrepreneurial careers
Helping pupils see enterprise not just as a subject, but as a genuine path — with the mentors, networks and experience to walk it.
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The Turing Innovation Centre
A dedicated hub for AI, entrepreneurship and cross-school collaboration. The physical home of Sherborne's next century.
There's a way in.
Founder, investor, mentor, parent or partner — if you'd like to be part of what we're building, we'd love to hear from you.
Heritage + Innovation