Isn't Launch League free for schools?

The platform, the curriculum, the teacher toolkit and the competition are free and stay free. You can run all of it yourself without paying anything. What costs money is Nick's day in your school: planning it with you, travelling, and delivering it.

Does an ICE Day count as our SHSM sector-partnered experience?

It is built to: about six hours, focused on innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, co-designed with your teacher and co-delivered by a business partner, with the student self-assessment and a certificate for the portfolio. Your board decides what counts, so check with your SHSM lead before you tell students. For the Business SHSM, Launch League is the business partner.

We're a construction (or health, or agriculture) SHSM. Can you do it for us?

Yes, with one honest condition: for a non-business sector, the sector partner has to come from that sector. We bring a local employer from your sector to co-deliver with Nick, and the day is built around a real problem in that industry. Where an employer sponsors the day, they are often the same people.

Can someone else pay for it?

Yes. A local employer can fund a day, or every day in a community, so the school pays nothing. The sponsor gets recognition and their people can co-deliver or mentor. They never get any say in judging, scores or which students do well.

By invoice, so a purchase order works. We confirm the date in writing, then send an invoice with HST shown. Prices are in Canadian dollars.

Travel is included within 150 km of Chatham-Kent. Further than that, it is quoted before you book, at cost, and never added afterwards.

Do you take photos or collect student information?

No student names, photos or contact details leave the room unless the school and a guardian have both agreed in writing. The summary for your SHSM lead counts things — teams, pitches, scores — and names nobody.

For SHSM leads, pathways and business departments

Use it free. Or have us run it.

Everything Launch League makes for schools is free, and stays free. When you want an entrepreneurship day delivered for you, Nick comes in and runs it with your teacher: a 90-minute workshop, or a full six-hour ICE day built for the SHSM sector-partnered experience.

Ask for a date See the ICE Day

Three ways to use Launch League

One free, two delivered

Start free if you like. Most schools that book a day have already used the free program.

Free
Launch League Classroom
Run it yourself, any time
Business 101, the teacher toolkit, slides, rubrics, the one-page business plan and the provincial competition with written judge feedback. A teacher runs it; nothing is locked.
- — 12 Ontario business courses mapped
- — Lessons, slides and printables
- — A six-hour ICE plan you can run with a local partner
- — Competition entry and judge feedback, free
Start free
$1,250 + HST
Launch League Live
90 minutes, Nick in the room
An interactive entrepreneurship workshop, or a talk for a whole grade: "You don't have to have it figured out." Students leave with a problem worth solving, a first customer to talk to, and a reason to enter the competition.
- — Up to two back-to-back classes the same day
- — Or one assembly talk for a grade, with Q&A
- — Grade 7 and 8 classes too, not just high school
- — Every student invited into the free program
- — Planned with the teacher by email beforehand
Ask for a date
$2,950 + HST
Launch League ICE Day
About six hours, co-delivered with your teacher
A full innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship day: problem, customer, offer, numbers, pitch. Built for the SHSM sector-partnered experience, co-designed with your teacher or SHSM lead, with Nick co-delivering as the business partner.
- — Up to 40 students in one cohort
- — Every pitch scored on the competition rubric, with one strength and one fix
- — Student self-assessment and a portfolio certificate
- — A one-page summary for your SHSM lead within a week
Ask for a date

The ICE Day

One school day. One real business idea.

Every SHSM student has to complete a sector-partnered experience: about six hours, co-designed and co-delivered by a teacher and a partner from the sector. Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship is one of the focus areas. This is that day, ready to run.

Students leave with a plan, not a pamphlet.

A defined customer and a problem they can prove is real
An offer with a price and the cost to deliver it
A 60-second pitch, scored, with one strength and one fix
A self-assessment and a certificate for the SHSM portfolio
An invitation into the free provincial competition

8:45
How businesses actually start
A real problem from Nick's own businesses, what it cost and what he would do differently. No success stories.
9:30
Find the problem
Teams collect problems they have actually seen and test each one: does it hurt, does it repeat, what do people already do about it?
10:30
The customer
Who has this problem, specifically, and where would you find ten of them this week?
11:15
The offer
What you would sell, to whom, and for how much. Nick says which ideas a customer would actually pay for, and why.
12:30
The numbers
Price, cost to deliver one, margin, and the one number in the plan nobody is sure about.
1:15
The pitch
Sixty seconds: problem, solution, evidence, why you, the ask. Rehearsed in pairs.
2:00
Pitches and feedback
Every team pitches. Each gets a rubric score and one strength and one fix, out loud.
2:45
Self-assessment and record
Students complete the SPE self-assessment and take their certificate. The teacher records the SPE and its ICE focus.

Times shift to fit your bell schedule; the day can also run over several shorter blocks. Your board decides what counts as a sector-partnered experience, so check with your SHSM lead. The SHSM requirements, sourced.

Not just the Business SHSM

Same day, your sector's problems

Construction, agriculture, health and wellness, hospitality, transportation: the method is the same, and the problems come from your students' industry.

One honest condition.A sector-partnered experience is co-delivered by a partner from the student's sector. Launch League is a business, so for the Business SHSM we are that partner. For any other sector, we bring a local employer from your industry to co-deliver with Nick, and we will not pretend to be the construction partner ourselves.

No budget this year?

A local employer can pay for it

An employer can fund one day or every school day in a community. The school pays nothing and the students pay nothing. The sponsor is recognised, and their people can co-deliver, mentor or come to the pitches. They never get any say in judging, scores or which students do well.

Employers can start at sponsoring Launch League, or say so in the form below and we will put the two of you together.

For boards

Across all your SHSM programs

5 or more days in one board in one school year are $2,450 + HST a day, planned once with your SHSM or pathways lead and scheduled across your schools. Each school gets the same day and the same one-page summary, and the board gets one invoice.

Ask for a date

Tell us the school and roughly when

Pick “School workshops and ICE Days”, and say which offer, which grade or SHSM sector, and a rough month. You get a personal reply within two business days with dates, and then an invoice your school can match to a purchase order.

This form is for school staff and employers. Please don't send us anything about a student.

Questions

What schools ask first

Isn't Launch League free for schools?: The platform, the curriculum, the teacher toolkit and the competition are free and stay free. You can run all of it yourself without paying anything. What costs money is Nick's day in your school: planning it with you, travelling, and delivering it.
Does an ICE Day count as our SHSM sector-partnered experience?: It is built to: about six hours, focused on innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, co-designed with your teacher and co-delivered by a business partner, with the student self-assessment and a certificate for the portfolio. Your board decides what counts, so check with your SHSM lead before you tell students. For the Business SHSM, Launch League is the business partner.
We're a construction (or health, or agriculture) SHSM. Can you do it for us?: Yes, with one honest condition: for a non-business sector, the sector partner has to come from that sector. We bring a local employer from your sector to co-deliver with Nick, and the day is built around a real problem in that industry. Where an employer sponsors the day, they are often the same people.
Can someone else pay for it?: Yes. A local employer can fund a day, or every day in a community, so the school pays nothing. The sponsor gets recognition and their people can co-deliver or mentor. They never get any say in judging, scores or which students do well.
How do we pay?: By invoice, so a purchase order works. We confirm the date in writing, then send an invoice with HST shown. Prices are in Canadian dollars.
Where do you travel?: Travel is included within 150 km of Chatham-Kent. Further than that, it is quoted before you book, at cost, and never added afterwards.
Do you take photos or collect student information?: No student names, photos or contact details leave the room unless the school and a guardian have both agreed in writing. The summary for your SHSM lead counts things — teams, pitches, scores — and names nobody.

Launch League is a company, not a charity. Prices are in Canadian dollars and HST is added on top — HST registration 72585 8757 RT0001. Launch League is not an approved SHSM program and does not claim to be one; school boards run SHSMs and decide what counts.