Start a real business.
While you’re still at school.

An entrepreneurship programme for high school students: practical, real-world skills, taught by mentors and guest speakers who have built businesses themselves.

Apply now → Get involved

Applications for Year 12 in 2027 are open now and close Sunday 8 November 2026.

A programme with a track record.

2022
established, and running every year since
100+
students taken through the programme
150+
mentors and guest speakers with real-world experience in the network

More about the programme →

The best school programme a student can take. You are given the space to try, fail, learn, and try again.
Oliver Linton · 2023 alumnus
There’s nothing quite like Openground out there. It supports students to launch a legitimate business from the ground up.
Yuro Lee · 2024 alumnus
The one skill I developed the most is my entrepreneurial mindset. I’ve really shifted my thinking about what you need as a founder to make it happen.
Polo Umali · 2022 alumnus

The year

Idea to income, in four terms.

  1. Learn the fundamentalsHow business actually works. Finish with an idea worth chasing.
  2. Meet your mentor. Make your first sale.Paired with a real operator, then take it to market.
  3. Grow it. Hear from guest speakers.More customers, more revenue, and operators on stage who have done it before.
  4. Show itShowcase what you have built over the year, then prize giving. Parents welcome.

See how the year runs →

A session in full swing at the B:HIVE: students working while a mentor talks them through the whiteboard

The office

Your office is a real one.

Year 12 sessions run weekly at the B:HIVE, Smales Farm: a working building full of working founders. You build your company two minutes from your customers.

Before school, 7:00 to 8:30am (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday), or after school, 3:30 to 5:00pm (Monday to Thursday).

The B:HIVE building at Smales Farm
Inside the B:HIVE: the spiral staircase and open atrium

Success stories

They started here.

Filmed at the Alumni Catch-Up, October 2025.

Polo Umali

Class of 2022 · sold YourDate at school

Oliver Linton

Class of 2023 · Clean Properties

Leon Grootscholten

Class of 2025 · WriteWise, in 24 schools

Meet the alumni →

2027

Year 12 in 2027 is for Westlake Boys.

Openground Year 12 runs again in 2027 for Westlake Boys High School students. We had planned to open it to more schools next year, and that has been paused for now. It is a pause, not the end: bringing Openground to other schools is still the plan.

Applications for Year 12 in 2027 are open now and close Sunday 8 November 2026. Apply now →

Year 12 is year one of a two-year pathway. Year 13 continues at Westlake in 2027, with details announced during the year.

Want your school to get involved? Get in touch →

2027 intake

Ready to build something real?

Students, mentors, speakers, supporters: find out how you can get involved.

Get involved →