Sponsors
Week 1
Team name: Buddy Beads
Tell us what you have been doing this week
At the start, we chose what we were going to make as a team. We wanted to do phone charms, bracelets etc.
We thought of different names we could choose and we voted as a class for our favourite name.
We then picked different charities we'd like to donate the money to for example: St Mary's Hospice, Animal Welfare and Womens' Community Matters. We picked St Mary's Hospice because we thought what they do is really important and it is a local charity to us.
What did you learn this week?
We learned how to work as a team and communicate with each other. We watched a video about business and enterprise. We learned that other schools are taking part in Bright Stars and that we can earn money for charity. We had to think about what we would do with the money.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it difficult picking an idea and we had to learn how to work with the idea that was chosen, even if it wasn't our own decision. We found it difficult at the start to work as a team.
Class Ideas
Types and names of beads
Selection of Buddy Beads
Week 2
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We were assigned roles by our teacher: vloggers, project managers, sellers, makers, marketing, finance etc.
We researched by looking at different bracelet options.
We started making our buddy beads. People from BAE came into school to help us with our project. They helped us understand out roles.
What did you learn this week?
We learned how to make them and tie them. Our teacher showed us the best way. We didn't think it would be easy but they were very easy to make.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found that some of the knots weren't tight enough and we sometimes dropped them and the beads fell off. We found it difficult sharing the beads and finding the correct letters and colours.
Week 3
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We made more bracelets and started to sell them. We took orders for customised bracelets. We made posters to advertise our business. We communicated via Dojo and School Facebook to others in the school/parents. We decided what went online as a class. We sold our bracelets for 50p or £1 for a personalised one. They sold really fast. We got a lot of pre orders which was brilliant because that meant we were making more profit. We researched local charities and made short presentation videos to persuade the class to vote for the different ones. St Mary's Hospice was the most popular.
What did you learn this week?
We started to look at which bracelets were most popular: i.e. the ones that say 2024. We found that certain letters and numbers were used quicker than others. People were interested in our business.
What did you find difficult this week?
Not everyone had money with them. We had to shout to attract attention. Getting people to listen to you. e had a residential booked so we had a lot of things to do.
Class Dojo post to Parents and Carers
Posters
Posters
Week 4
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We continued to make and sell our charms. We asked Year 6 to help us draw attention. We put up posters to let people know how much the charms cost. We had to reorder some letters and we ran out of some vowels. We realised that that would mean we would make less profit. We decided to make beads for Sports Day for the different team colours.
What did you learn this week?
Don't take it to heart if someone is unhappy. Working as a team is extremely important and helping each other when we get stressed.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it difficult selling outside because it was wet or people would give us notes and we wouldn't have change. We found it difficult to keep up with demand. Some people didn't collect.
Week 5
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We started looking at quality and making sure we used the same amount of beads and the same length of string.
We worked out the costings and the profit - we are making over 100% profit. We wrote a blog for our Ipads. We worked out we had made £58. We bought more materials, we used the money left over from our £50. We wrote to St Mary's Hospice to let them know they were our chosen charity.
What did you learn this week?
We learned how to calculate costings and how much profit we'd made. We'd been making different sized charms. We learned how to make a process.
What did you find difficult this week?
Measuring the string and being accurate. Managing workload.
Letter by Pippah and Sharna
Week 6 - half term
Week 7
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We started to make sports day charms. The sports day charms were 20p because we used less beads. We wrote a letter to the parents to put on Dojo about why we were doing the process. We also wrote a letter to St Mary's Hospice to explain that we would donate money to them after we took a vote.
We got a lot of donations on sports day. We made £24 on that day because people were giving us tips and charity donations. We sold over 100 bracelets. We started making "Pius Calling" bracelets for our music festival in the next 2 weeks. We used bright colours for these. We currently have made £111.
What did you learn this week?
Lots of people were interested once they understood it was for charity. We learned how to talk to customers. The sports day ones were very popular. How to write a letter properly. It was harder than we thought.
What did you find difficult this week?
The sports day ones were harder to make because the beads were smaller. Difficult to persuade people. Had to find out how to put shell charms on the bracelets. Our class members had to do a speech.
Letter to St. Mary's Hospice
Class Dojo to parents/carers about our chosen charity
Week 8
Tell us what you have been doing this week
Nicola and Georgia, from BAE, came in to visit us and helped us to complete our blog. As a class, we told them about our project, how we came up the ideas and the name. We discussed the different designs and colours we would make, and decided to custom make some of the beads for customers. We also explained how the roles and jobs were distributed across the class.
What did you learn this week?
Completing the Blog. Communication and Teamwork - discussing the whole project with the class.
What did you find difficult this week?
Organising the Blog and making sure we had recorded everything.
Week 9
Tell us what you have been doing this week
Georgia and Amy came in from BAE for our last week of doing Enterprise and we had the freedom to make as many Buddy beds as we wanted. We realised we needed to make them for our school event, Pius Calling, because it was coming up in a couple of weeks. We made some of the beads with festival quotes. People used the colours: pink, blue orange and green as they thought they were summery colours.
What did you learn this week?
We realised that we have been very good at working as a group and communicating with each other. We also have improved our knot tying skills and our resilience! We had to repeat making a few as they fell off but we supported each other when we were feeling upset about this.
What did you find difficult this week?
We realised we had to make the video to explain our project. We had to bring everything together and make sure we had enough Buddy Beads to sell at Pius Calling.
For pupils to answer:
In one sentence please tell us what bright stars has meant to you?
It has meant that we have had a lot of independence to work as a team supporting each other. It has made us feel more together as a class. We want to do more things like this
For teachers to answer:
Can you tell us the impact this programme has had on your school?
At the start, I wasn't sure how they would cope with working so independently and monitoring each other. I was very pleasantly surprised as they were so supportive and helped each other out so much - I was very proud of them. I think it has given me the courage to move onto other work that requires these skills and give the pupils the opportunity to develop this further in Y6.
Please provide your business plan.
Please provide your marketing plan.
Please provide your finance report/template.
Charity name/money donated to.
St Mary's Hospice 517738 we will be donating £100
Final profit (minus the £50 seed funding).
£102
Total money made at this point
