Methillhill Primary School Festive Fun Enterprise Event 2013

         

Through the Numeracy action group it was identified that an IDL approach to Finance Week and a direct link to Enterprise was an ideal opportunity to have a dynamic learning experience with maximum impact for all stakeholders. We collegiately planned a whole school event using Christmas as the theme. Each class were given a deposit of £12.50 to combine in their class stages to use to buy materials etc to support their project with the aim of making an overall profit. The profits made would then be given towards school funds to benefit all across the school.

 Each stage began their own journey which they recorded through the use of Big Books. This is a collaborative planning tool which the children take the lead role in and some are now on display in the foyer. Every stage conducted market research, voting systems, established real business roles within their teams and worked collaboratively throughout the two week project. The motivation and enthusiasm was clearly seen across the school with children eagerly talking about their experiences and learning. This IDL approach supported the transference of skills from across the curriculum which was an identified as a development need across the school.

The children were working within a specified time limit and to a clear criteria:

·         Design and Make a festive themed product

·         Product Name

·         Company Name

·         Logo

·         Slogan or Jingle

·         5 minute presentation – any format

·          

Using a shared leadership approach across this project we invited local businesses to participate in this event. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Diageo and RBS all agreed to attend and be our Enterprise Dragons. The East Fife Mail also attended and helped share our projects success with the community. We had a P7 team of Enterprise Ambassadors who helped co-ordinate the event on the day. This very real audience enhanced the learning and teaching experiences across the school giving it a meaningful context.

   A number of stages were very innovative in their approach from having phone interviews with other Managing Directors from local companies and have since arranged visits to share in the real world of work. Our P6 company arranged a recording company to come in and record every class in school to sing a Christmas Carol to make a real CD to sell to parents as well as go to Sainsbury’s and sing live and sell further copies.

     P2 worked collaboratively with our dining staff to learn the art of making gingerbread which on the final Fayre were sold out in less than 6 minutes.

The event was summarised with parents being invited into a Christmas Fayre the following morning to sell their products from their stalls. There was a huge support from our parents from across the school who were delighted with the opportunity to share in this festive project and their feedback was very positive.

Overall this project was a huge success and will certainly be something we build on on an annual basis and is a successful modelled themed week which could be applied to other concepts.

    The community links were fantastic and in terms of reaching our goal in developing the four capacities in our young people we feel it was achieved. The collegiality working of staff and the collaborative team working with the pupils was a massive success. The opportunities for consolidating, embedding and extending skills across the curriculum was also achieved – particularly Numeracy, Literacy and ICT.