Boghall pupils show enterprise

Primary kids learn business skills

Pupils from Boghall Primary School have been learning what it would be like to run their own business.

Since September last year, primary 6 and 7 pupils have been taking part in the Plant A Seed – Cultivate an Idea – Reap the Rewards Business Enterprise programme which aims to introduce them to the concepts and skills behind running a business and let them try it for themselves.

The challenge is designed within the Curriculum for Excellence and focuses on skills for life, work and learning. To successfully complete the challenge, they had to use their literacy, numeracy and technology skills whilst developing their enterprise and employability skills such as collaboration, problem solving, communication, resilience and leadership.

In September they started by learning about the essential knowledge and skills required for the setting up and running of a business.

Their class teachers, Miss Armstrong, Mrs Williamson and Miss Potter, lead them through the process of generating ideas for a business, manufacturing a product/service, marketing and advertising, finance, sales and other administrative tasks.

After developing the knowledge and skills, the pupils were then given the opportunity to transfer them into their very own business ideas.

They had to work collaboratively in their groups to create their own business idea, name, logo and slogan.

When this was organised, they prepared their pitches and they had to pull together their literacy skills to write a convincing and persuasive sales pitch to their investor, Mr McGregor of CM Opticians.

And successful, each pupil was given £ 1 as an initial investment, which they then used to start their own enterprise.

In total, there were 19 businesses running from October to December. Every business had the opportunity to sell at break or lunch time and some were lucky enough to sell at the school’s annual Christmas The children then invited their parents along to their awards ceremony in January where the pupils found out their individual profits. Some children were also awarded individual certificates such as most entrepreneurial spirit and most professional business.

Zoe Armstrong, acting principal teacher, said: “The children worked extremely hard and made an amazing profit of £859.14. The money made will go towards their school show and a well earned school trip for all pupils involved. I am extremely proud of the efforts by all children. Not only have they made a fantastic profit, they have learned vital skills for life. The children have a much deeper understanding of what it means to be organised, resilient and how to manage their time effectively.”

The children worked extremely hard