Sponsors
Week 1
Team name: Morland Area C. Of E. Primary
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week we met our new business partner DiffAbilty. Christina taught us all about what large, medium and small businesses are. She explained what her business is and how it all began. Christina described why she started her business and how different abilities should be celebrated. Matthew visited our class as well telling us about where he works and what his training course is all about. He trains at college and works in a cafe at Brougham with 4Eden.
We started to plan our own ideas for our Bright Stars business using our £50 funding.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt that having a difference does not have to be a disability it can be a Different Ability.
We learnt about large, medium and small businesses.
We learnt how to plan ideas for our own business with the advice of Christina.
What did you find difficult this week?
Coming up with a new business name and designing the logo. How to best use our money.
The new Morland Bright Stars Team partnered with DiffAbility
Opening our golden envelope to reveal the ‘seed’ funding and beginning to plan our ideas.
Here we are planning our logo designs and business ideas.
Here we are discussing budgets and pricing.
Week 2
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week we met up with Christina again and we discussed the mind map and graph she had created of all of our ideas from last week. We talked a lot about finance, how to set prices within our budget and how to aim to make a profit. We came up with the idea of creating a book and having it printed to sell and welcoming the local community to a book launch evening. We are planning a book to raise awareness and welcome differences other people may have as different abilities- like a ‘super hero’ ability. We thought we might create a sensory book, box or board to accompany our book.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt about the different roles and jobs within a business. We are going to apply for jobs we may have within our new business. ~We will decide on our business name and logo next.
What did you find difficult this week?
Learning about how profits work and how to make sure your that your business does not lose money. we will also have to think carefully about not over pricing our goods.
Week 3
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week we have been applying for the positions we would like to have throughout the time of our business. Christina came in and talked to us about how to fill in a job application for a role within the business including the wide variety of skills we have and use from home and in school. She taught us a little bit of Makaton in that we can use within our business. She taught us some greetings and some words in Makaton. We are hoping to have the opportunity to ask some questions to a young man from the Down Syndrome GB swimming team.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt more about Down Syndrome. We found out and planned how many roles we might have in our own business. We also learnt how to write a job application and identify all of our special skills that we could contribute to make a great business a team.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it quite tricky to understand what all of the different types of jobs within a business are and how to apply for them well. It was tricky to write formally on the application.
Examples of our job applications.
Here we are after completing our job applications.
Our sub-teams meeting and planning.
Our new CEOs ready with their planning file.
Week 4
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week was the application form deadline! Mrs Thornton and Mrs Donnelly Stott read the application forms and allocated the positions within the business. It was a hard decision so our Headteacher chose the two CEO’s - we had very strong applicants. We all got into our new team groups and started to plan what we would be doing to move forward with our business. We are beginning to think about what questions we will include in our team podcasts- we hope it will be like a professional radio show! This week we received an email with a quote for the cost of printing the books.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt that you must write a strong and persuasive application form to achieve the role that you want within a company. We learnt more about what our business will be and how to work as new teams. Alfie said, “We are stronger together than apart!”
What did you find difficult this week?
It was difficult to decide what our logo will definitely be as we have to listen to all of our ideas as a team. It’s tricky to work between 2 teams as you have to split your time equally when helping.
Week 5
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week we found out what our jobs would be. We got into our new teams and started to plan what we would do. We also planned some questions to create a podcast to send out to update our community on our Bright Stars plans. We completed the logo designs and we were pleased with the design and the business ‘strapline’ being ‘All of our beautiful differences’. We thought it means enjoyment for all, inclusion and celebration of everybody and their differences.
We are going to plan the pages for our new book about celebrating and including every child.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt how business teams work together and how to plan in a group.
What did you find difficult this week?
Deciding on the final theme and the layout for our book.
Our enterprise logo
Working on our plans.
Week 6
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We worked hard to finalise the jungle for the advert for our business enterprise celebrating ‘All our beautiful differences’. We are advertising for sales for the preorder of our book ready for the book launch at our school BBQ. We created a google form to send to parents and we keep checking for updates as to what sales we have made. We have also finalised the illustrations for the book. We worked closely with the design teams taking their advice, making improvements and striving for the best. We’re so proud of our work in the picture below. We tried to add our video jingle but it wont load.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt about collaboration across teams, using our skills within teams to advise each other. We learnt about finance use and have decided we’ll use our seed funding to cover the initial costs for the printing of the books. By taking preorders we should be able to plan ahead and see the profit.
What did you find difficult this week?
It was difficult to finalise our work when doing lots of other things in school as well and our swimming each afternoon too. The preordering system our CEO’s thought about should be a great idea.
Week 7 - half term
The blurb of our book.
A sample page of the book-poem and illustration
We will try and send it in the morning as we’re having trouble uploading it.
Week 8
Tell us what you have been doing this week
Our google preorder form is working well. So far we have 28 preorders of our book celebrating everyone’s differences. We did acrostic poems linking to words which make us all different and special and they look great with our illustrations from last week.It’s gone to be printed! We have more orders coming in from the wider community as well as our school families! We hope to sell even more at our book launch and BBQ event on the 7th July. If we had any left over we will ask 4Eden cafe who have a link with Diff-ability if they would like to sell them in their cafe and split the profits.What did you learn this week?
With the cost the printing being £120 for 100 copies we already have sold 28 copies therefore each copy sold at £4 each making £112 and using our seed funding of £50 we already have now got £42. We have more preorders coming in from people outside our school from the wider community as well!What did you find difficult this week?
This week it was tricky working out the outgoings of preorders against the costs of the printing with the printing team and in addition the seed funding. The preorder system works well on the form.For pupils to answer:
In one sentence please tell us what bright stars has meant to you?
It’s so nice to work together and have the opportunity to work in a job. We enjoyed working in teams on a new project and working with different people. I loved working on Bright Stars again.
For teachers to answer:
Can you tell us the impact this programme has had on your school?
Bright Stars has been a wonderful opportunity for us to work in teams, collaborate, learn new things, voice our ideas, meet new professionals and learn from their expertise then apply it.
Please provide your business plan.
Please provide your marketing plan.
Please provide your finance report/template.
