Shaped By Solent
Led By: Georgina Shepherd – Retail Manager, Gunwharf Quays
The Shaped by Solent project brings together Solent Academies Trust, City of Portsmouth College, Havant & South Downs College, and a range of Shaping Portsmouth Partner businesses to provide experienced Portsmouth business leaders as mentors to classes of Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) students.
As teams, their task is to conceptualise, design and create products, within this year’s brief, that the students will then arrange the manufacture of for sale in Shaped by Solent Pop-Up Shop at the annual conference, with sales profits going directly to the Trust and Colleges or a charity of their choosing.
At the Shaping Portsmouth Conference there will be a delegates vote on the presented products to choose an overall winning team. The aim is to mass manufacture the winning product and sell it through an established Portsmouth outlet, such as a Museum gift shop, with any profits going back to the trusts or colleges.
Objectives
- Share and teach entrepreneurial skills with students to promote employability.
- Encourage problem-solving skills to promote creativity and innovation.
- Provide mentoring in general business and life skills.
Current Initiatives
- Team mentoring
- Dragons Den-style pitch session
- Manufacture and sales of student-designed products
Impact
109 special educational needs students, aged 11 to 22, in 12 teams.
The 12 products were sold at the 2026 conference, raising £2,299.40.
Winning item being sold in the Spinnaker Tower gift shop.
Shaped By Solent is delivered in partnership with:
The latest news from Shaped By Solent:
Announcing the Shaped By Solent 2026 winner
Announcing our new Programme Leads
Shaped By Solent winning product to go on sale next month
Shaped By Solent partners with the Mary Rose Museum
The Friends of Mary Rose are seeking help with fundraising for a new minibus
Shaping Portsmouth Is Disability Confident
Testimonials
