Roecliffe C of E Primary School was one of just 500 schools nationwide to take part in the fiver challenge.
Pupils in Years 5 & 6 were given £5 to grown their own businesses in just two weeks.
Roecliffe C of E Primary School continues to make enterprise education a priority as pupils in Year 5 & 6 take part in the fiver challenge. This project has seen the talented young entrepreneurs make £634 profit in just two weeks. These budding business minds have created a whole host of small businesses from Elderflower Cordial to Tour De France themed cupcakes; carwashes to pizza parties for friends.
Henrietta and Ellie (Year 5 pupils) worked together making bags of popcorn to sell at the local tennis club, trialling different packaging, and even considering their carbon footprint. Mailie (also Year 5) sold her homemade elderflower cordial using recycled bottles, her unique recipe and even has her goods now on sale at the local farm shop, whilst Harvey (Year 6) invited his friends to a pizza & movie party, charging £10 and walking away with £60 profits.
All children took part with real enthusiasm and flair in this Government pilot called the Fiver Challenge, organised by their class teacher and Headteacher Mrs Kerry Dalton.
Previous enterprise events at Roecliffe have included the Dragons Den, involving the whole school back in 2011, and in 2012 Key Stage 2 pupils led the ‘Taste The Difference’ taste test challenge, sponsored by PfEG.
Headteacher, Mrs Kerry Dalton, said: Recent newspaper reports have claimed that many young people are falling short of the standards required for business, suggesting that a structured enterprise education might address this issue.
We have worked with organisations such as HSBC and PfEG, the Personal Finance Education Group as part of the mathematics curriculum here at Roecliffe for several years.
We believe that It is crucial that children are given opportunity to explore business enterprise first-hand, and it is the role of school’s to embrace these opportunities, linking with the local community and financial organisations to make learning come alive.
The Fiver Challenge has been a fantastic opportunity for our pupils, with the whole school community getting involved, with businesses trading at school Sports Day, linking with local small businesses, and with parents even being paid to help children to create their goods.
On Tuesday 24th June, Mrs Nicola Thacker from HSBC is visiting school to talk to the children about how they can further invest their profits and how they could develop their business ideas. The children were asked to present their business plans on Monday 23rd June, focussing on three areas; profit margins, community footprint and inspiring business ideas. There will prizes awarded in school throughout the week, with HSBC awarding the community footprint award.
So far, the children have pledged around 80% of their profits to local charities such as the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Martin House Children’s Hospice, Nuzzlets and the RNLI to name just a few. The children had really thought in detail about why they wanted to donate their profits, and some aren’t planning to stop here… Mailie looks set to continue selling her cordial at Minskip Farm Shop and with profits of £180 in just two weeks who can blame her!
Lord Young who believes that the UK is under-performing when it comes to entrepreneurship, has been invited to visit Roecliffe C of Primary School, where hopefully he will be encouraged by the good work that primary schools undertake to ensure that enterprise is alive.
