Sponsors
Week 1
Team name: WOW!
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week, we thought about our potential customers and we thought we should make things that might help people with their mental health and wellbeing. Our school does a lot to help us with our wellbeing and we have a Wellbeing Award, so we thought this would be a good idea.
We came up with lots of different ideas and discussed each of these as a whole class. After taking a vote, our team name would be WOW! Which stands for Wiggonby on Wellbeing. Mr Brooks said the name reminded him of the pop-art artist Roy Lichtenstein. We agreed that our logo could be in a similar style.
What did you learn this week?
We learned about the importance of listening to everyone and not to talk over others. In business, and in life, you have to be able to listen as well as offer your ideas. You have to be respectful of other people in your team. We also learned about the different roles needed within a business.
What did you find difficult this week?
Finding out about the different roles within the business and therefore deciding which one would be best for each of us. Polly, our sponsor is going to interview us next week. How exciting!
Team WOW! receiving their £50 seed money.
Discussing ideas with Polly from our sponsors, Orian.
Our business logo! We love it! WOW!
Our WOW! organisation structure
Week 2
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week, Polly came in and she and Mrs Morrey formally interviewed us for each of the positions within WOW! It was quite nerve wracking going for interview and trying to answer the questions as best we could. Everyone who went for an interview got a place within the board, so it all worked out in the end.
We have also started making some of our products, like cool bookmarks and worry dolls, each with a positive message on them.
What did you learn this week?
How a formal interview works. It was a bit scary, but enjoyable.
By listening to each other, we realised that having different stations for making our product would work better and be a lot quicker.
What did you find difficult this week?
The interviews were difficult and not everyone got the role they wanted, which was hard, but everyone is really happy and super excited to be part of the main board of WOW!
Week 3
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week has been SUPER busy! We've made a lot more of our bookmarks and worry dolls & have started to sell these within the class as we like them so much. We have been making posters to promote our products and will be selling these on a larger scale from next week. The marketing team have written letters to a range of businesses in the hope that they will be able to support us with donations or by helping us sell. Our two local pubs have agreed to sell our bookmarks and worry dolls over the weekend.
We spent some of our money on frozen fruit for our WOW! Smoothie Shack, which was a success.
What did you learn this week?
We sent a video to local social media marketeer, Adam Roberts, asking for some tips on the best ways of marketing. It was brilliant that he agreed to come and see us. He gave us some really good tips on how to advertise through conversation. We are going to make a couple of advertisements next week.
What did you find difficult this week?
The actual running of the smoothie shack was difficult and keeping track of the money. We need to maybe communicate a bit better and always report back to the project manager.
Adam Roberts talked about his social media and marketing business.
Our delicious smoothies were a real hit!
Following the tips given by Adam, we made our own advert for our bookmarks.
The WOW! sales team at Wigton Market
Selling our products and promoting Carlisle Eden Mind
Feeling confident, the team made an advert to promote our upcoming Coffee afternoon.
Week 4
Tell us what you have been doing this week
On Friday 17 May, we went to Wigton Market because we got a stall to sell our products. Personally, I am very happy with how much money we are making and the products we are selling! The products we are selling consists of bookmarks [ £1 to £1.50 depending on the quality and detail of the bookmarks ] and worry dolls with nice messages on the back!
The rest of the team that didn't go to Wigton Market made smoothies for the school.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt how to gain customers by showing our items, speaking to them politely and showing them our stall! We also told them that we are donating to Carlisle Eden Mind to support Mental Health, which we are, and giving them mini leaflets about Eden Mind, we learnt more social skills and Marketing!
What did you find difficult this week?
Getting the right consistency for our smoothies and some friction between some pupils, apart from that, the air is clear.
Week 5
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week, we organised a coffee & cake afternoon for our parents, grandparents and members of the community.We spoke to parents and members of staff to ask for donations of cakes and scones, so that we could keep our costs down. Children also brought unwanted books in for us to sell on the day.
Wednesday, Kelsie from Carlisle Eden Mind came to visit us and gave us some leaflets,bunting and stickers for our coffee afternoon.
Our coffee afternoon was a huge success, not only in how much money we made, but because it was lovely to see parents mixing and chatting, which is good for mental health.
What did you learn this week?
We had to be super-organised and really plan each part of our coffee afternoon. Who would do what jobs etc. The two of us (the project manager and deputy project manager) felt much more confident in directing others.
What did you find difficult this week?
The organising of the coffee afternoon was difficult, but we managed it and were very successful. We also spoke in front of the parents to say thank you for coming along and supporting Team WOW!
A busy hall! Just what we wanted.
Look at these delicious cakes!
Week 6 - half term
Week 7
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week we have been thinking about our final video and planning that. We have also decided to make some friendship bracelets to sell in school and possibly at the market on the final day of trading.
What did you learn this week?
We learned more about business and marketing, and about all the brilliant things we have done over the past 6-7 weeks. We realised we had done quite a lot and have been making a lot of profit for our charity. We felt proud of this.
What did you find difficult this week?
We thought it might be difficult to sell the same products again, so we have decided to create a new product to see if we can sell that to help us make even more money.
We always design and make our own marketing posters.
Preparing for our sale of bookmarks, worry dolls and bracelets!
Week 8
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week, we decided to branch out a little by making friendship bracelets to sell in school and hopefully at the market next week. As a team, we thought that we needed to add an additional product so as to keep our company relevant.
We sold our products, including the bracelets, at break-time on Friday, making some more profit. We were really pleased with this.
We have also made little flower pots as part of our entry to Cumbria in Bloom. We are going to sell these, along with packets of wildflower seeds, which will have positive messages on them.
What did you learn this week?
We learned that through good communication and regular discussions, new ideas can be created. It was actually a really good decision to make the firendship bracelets. These will sell and it encourages people to think of others in a positive way. Great for wellbeing.
What did you find difficult this week?
Mainly making different product, but we have been working well as a team, so it actually wasn't too hard.
Week 9
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week, we had a final push on sales. We split the team up with some going to Wigton Market and the others making and selling smoothies in school. We were looking forward to selling our newer products at the market and were really pleased with how we did. We worked with Polly, our mentor, to look through our business and marketing plans, which we had started at the beginning of the project. We made some more posters to market our products and made our final video to show our journey and thoughts on the project.
What did you learn this week?
We had a good discussion about our project and we all agreed that we have worked well as a team and communicated well. Everyone has said that they felt valued, which was a positive. Polly, helped us spice up our business & marketing plans. We think they look fabulous!
What did you find difficult this week?
We have had lots of other things going on in school this week, so time was a bit of an issue, but we knew what we were doing as we were so well organised. Everyone knew their roles.
For pupils to answer:
In one sentence please tell us what bright stars has meant to you?
It has been a fun experience making and selling our amazing products. We learned a lot of things, such as how to handle money and to talk to customers. We enjoyed being in charge of our own business.
For teachers to answer:
Can you tell us the impact this programme has had on your school?
The word 'impact' is key here. The project has enabled our pupils to learn about business and discover skills they perhaps didn't know they had. They quickly showed excellent team work and a desire to do well. They communicated well and showed a real passion for supporting people with their mental health and wellbeing. The WOW! team made fantastic products and sold these over the course of the project, making a lot of money. They have met different people, such as Polly, our mentor, who has been invaluable. Adam, came and talked about marketing, which opened a whole new door for our pupils. And Kelsey from Carlisle Eden Mind came to see us and shared in our passion. The feel-good aspect of seeing our products sell, was really evident, knowing that they were making money that would have a major long-term impact on many people within our community. Our pupils want to carry on making and selling, which reflects the impact this has had on them. WOW!
Please provide your business plan.
Please provide your marketing plan.
Please provide your finance report/template.
Charity name/money donated to.
£1,187.52 for Carlisle Eden Mind
Final profit (minus the £50 seed funding).
£1,187.52
The Final Day of Sales at Wigton Market
Kelsey from Carlisle Eden Mind sent us a thank you video
What an experience! What a journey! This video shows how well we have done as Team WOW!
