Supported by
The Bright Stars team at Grasslot Primary School set out to create a fun, inclusive, and charity-driven enterprise to bring their community together. Inspired by the Bright Stars ethos of “making a profit and making a difference,” pupils chose to design festive goods and host engaging activities at the school’s Christmas Fayre. Open to families and the wider Grasslot community, the event aims to raise funds for selected charities while spreading holiday cheer. With support from Firpress mentors, pupils transformed their creative ideas into a professional logo to feature on all products. Over the coming weeks, pupils, staff, and mentors will craft handmade items and trial exciting games for the stall. This collaboration has empowered pupils to take ownership of their project, develop leadership and teamwork skills, and experience the joy of giving back—showcasing the power of young people to make a meaningful impact through creativity and enterprise.
Week 1
Team name: Kind Kids of Christmas
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week we met Kerri and Jess from Firpress. We talked about BrightStars and gathered all of our ideas for selling at the Christmas Fayre. We sent a message to our grown ups to ask them what they would like to buy and we ended up with a long list of possibilities.
We decided we needed a name for our team and everyone had lots of great ideas. some of the suggestions were Grasslot Elves, Grasslot Sparkle Squad and Grasslot Giving Gang, but the one that won the most votes was Kind Kids of Christmas.
What did you learn this week?
This week we learnt what BrightStars is.
We found out that it is important to talk about all the ideas and this helps to make them even better.
We learnt that sometimes it is difficult to make a group decision but having a vote means most children get their choice.
What did you find difficult this week?
It is difficult to choose when there are lots of good ideas. You feel a bit sad when your favourite idea doesn't win the vote.
Creating our logo.
Week 2
Tell us what you have been doing this week
Firpress created and printed a fantastic activity card for us to use to draw our designs on and we worked hard to explore our ideas for a logo and think about the best colours to use.
Jess set to work adding our ideas to a logo and she created three different designs for us to choose from. We loved them all but chose the one with smiley faces in the letters, just like on our school logo.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt what a logo is.
We learnt red and green are colours often used for Christmas things.
What did you find difficult this week?
Drawing reindeer is quite tricky and it's difficult choosing the best when there are lots of good ideas.
Week 3 - Half Term
Tell us what you have been doing this week
What did you learn this week?
What did you find difficult this week?
Week 4
Tell us what you have been doing this week
Just when we thought things couldn’t get more exciting, we received a very special surprise… a letter and package from none other than Santa Claus himself and his Christmas Crew at the North Pole! Santa had heard all about our Kind Kids of Christmas project and was so impressed, he asked for our help.
He sent us a magical delivery filled with reindeer food and sparkle dust, asking if the children could make Reindeer Dust to help guide his sleigh to all the children’s homes in Maryport on Christmas Eve. Of course, we said yes!
What did you learn this week?
What did you find difficult this week?
Week 5
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We have been really really busy making all the things to sell at the Christmas Fayre. We decided to make sweetie cones, reindeer dust, decorations, bells and calendars and have all taken a turn to make each thing.
In between all the making, we have had a lot of fun testing out some games we can play at the Fayre.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt how to make all the things. We had to mix together the ingredients for reindeer dust, put the right amount of sweets in the sweetie cones and take lots of time and care to draw and colour carefully to make sure the decorations look amazing.
What did you find difficult this week?
It was difficult not to eat the sweets we put in the sweetie cones.
Week 6
Tell us what you have been doing this week
Kerri from Firpress brought us some ceramic Christmas decorations so we have been busy painting them very carefully. It was lots of fun.
What did you learn this week?
That you need to be careful with the decorations so they dont break. You need to let the paint dry before you paint the next colour or else it all mixes together in a murky colour.
What did you find difficult this week?
It was quite fiddly so we had to be so so careful.
Week 7
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week we visited the Firpress factory, We saw all the big machines. Jess showed us the calendar design on the computer and Ollie and Payton sent the document to the printer. We all filled the paper tray and after printing a test page, we counted them out as they printed. Next we tolok the calenders to Mittens the Elf to get trimmed. She was a little bit cheeky. After that Paul showed us how the light up machine worked and it cut out the gingerbread decorations. We all threaded ribbon through them. Before we knew it, we had to leave and get back to school. On the way out we met
What did you learn this week?
What did you find difficult this week?
Bringing the items back from Firpress.
Decorating the tree with our Gingerbread Men.
Week 8
Tell us what you have been doing this week
It is the week of the school fayre so we put our advertising video onto Tapestry so all the adults at home know what we have been busy doing.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt that it is important to let people know about the sale and if they see something they would like to buy they will remember to bring some money.
What did you find difficult this week?
Mittens on the BrighStars stall at the Christmas Fayre
Week 9
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We had the school Christmas Fayre and Mittens and the Firpress team came along to help sell the things we had made and play the games.
What did you learn this week?
We learned that some people didnt have any money to spend.
What did you find difficult this week?
Week 10
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We have been asking Miss Graham in the office to help us count up the money and see how much there is.
What did you learn this week?
How to count up money.
What did you find difficult this week?
It is difficult counting up big numbers.
For pupils to answer:
In one sentence please tell us what Bright Stars has meant to you?
BrightStars has been lovely because you get to do lots of drawing like the logo, the gingerbread men and the calendar people,
For teachers to answer:
Can you tell us the impact this programme has had on your school?
BrightStars has helped the children learn about different occupations. They have seen a business first hand and are now able to better understand what running a business involves. Firpress made it lots of fun for the children as every week they visited with preprepared engaging activities to support their learning. The children not only benefitted from learning skills such as pencil control and drawing but also communication and teamwork as they often worked in small groups, pairs and they learnt a lot about voting and fair ways to make decisions.
Please provide your business plan.
Please provide your marketing plan.
Please provide your finance report/template.
Charity name/money donated to.
£70.00 to be donated to the Henderson Suite; £68.10 towards school funds
Final profit (minus the £50 seed funding).
£138.10
