The Foundry — An entrepreneurship program for senior school students

// What it is

Three things, in one program.

01 — The program

A real curriculum, not a project

Ten modules that move students from problem discovery to a financial model, from a prototype to a polished pitch. Teacher-delivered, mentor-supported, designed to slot into a senior-school timetable without rewiring it.

See the modules →

02 — The mentors

Your community, in the classroom

The program's mentors come first from your own old scholars and parents, brought back to share what they've built with the students. The Foundry gives you a structured reason to draw them in, supports the outreach, and augments with its network across schools.

How mentoring works →

03 — The pathway

A real pitch at the end of the road

The Foundry is building toward The Founder's Cup, an inter-school startup championship for South Australia. As more schools come on board, the strongest ventures will pitch on one stage. A reason for students to take the work seriously.

Where it's heading →

// Where it fits in your school

Three ways to run it.

The Foundry is curriculum, not a one-off enrichment day. It's designed to fit a real timetable in three configurations, and we work with you to pick the one that matches your school's structure and ambition.

Option A

A standalone subject

Run The Foundry as a full Year 10 or Year 11 elective. One semester, full ten modules. Suits schools that want to build entrepreneurship into the senior pathway as a discipline of its own.

Option B

A term plug-in

Run The Foundry across one term inside an existing business, economics, or commerce course. Compresses the ten modules into a focused term. The lowest-friction way to add entrepreneurship without redrawing the timetable.

Option C

Extracurricular

Run The Foundry outside the timetable as an opt-in program for students who want to build something real. Lower cohort numbers, higher self-selection, often the strongest student ventures.

// Who it's for

Built for the school that wants to mean it.

Headmasters, principals, heads of senior school who want a defensible entrepreneurship offering rather than another enrichment one-off.

Heads of business, economics, commerce departments looking for a credible, structured program that aligns with senior-school assessment expectations.

Curriculum leads and innovation directors building a senior-school pathway that competes with the best independent schools nationally.

For schools →

Where it's heading

The Founder's Cup.
The championship we're building toward.

The goal: an inter-school startup championship for South Australia, where the strongest ventures from each Foundry school pitch on one stage to a panel of founders and investors, the way schools compete in rowing or debating. It starts with a founding group of schools and grows from there. The Foundry is the program. The Cup is where it leads.

Where it's heading →

// Who's behind it

Built by operators,
not a textbook.

The Foundry is led by founder Luke Lombe, an operator across financial services, venture studios, and fintech who launched the South Australian chapter of the Founder Institute and founded The Founder's Cup.

It's advised by Jim Whalley, co-founder and chairman of Nova Systems and South Australia's inaugural Chief Entrepreneur. Students learn entrepreneurship from people who have built companies, not described them.

Meet the team →

// Read more