Sponsors
Week 1
Team name: Victoria On the Rescue
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week, we chose a CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and leaders for all of our business teams, like sales, marketing, production, finance, procurement and events. Then we made our business name, Victoria on the Rescue, and our slogan is, “With our kindness, we can move mountains.”
We also decided to raise money for Mountain Rescue because they help lots of people in our area and do really important jobs to keep people safe.
We also had Jayne from Oxley's come in to talk about what they do there and how we could work together.
What did you learn this week?
That there are lots of different jobs and important parts in a business, and that everyone has a role to help things work properly. We also practised our brainstorming skills by sharing lots of ideas together and listening to each other’s thoughts. Then we worked as a team to filter our ideas.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found choosing our leaders quite difficult because lots of people wanted the different jobs and roles. It was hard to decide because everyone had great ideas and wanted to help.
Week 2
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week, we had Will, who is a graphic designer, come and talk to us about his job and how graphic design is used in businesses. He taught us about logos and why they are important for helping people recognise a business. After that, we designed our own logos for Victoria on the Rescue. We created a survey and sent it to Oxleys so that other people could help us choose which logo they think is the best for our business.
We also worked together to plan some exciting events to help us raise money for Mountain Rescue: a cake sale at Oxley's, a cake sale at our school, and a movie night.
What did you learn this week?
We learned about the job of a graphic designer and how they create things like logos, posters, and designs to help businesses stand out and look professional. We also learned how important market research is because it helps businesses find out what other people like and what they think.
What did you find difficult this week?
It was difficult to find squishies that were both good quality and affordable enough for us to sell because there were so many different choices to look through and compare.
Week 3
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We sent a vote to Oxleys to see what cakes they would like. we have planned are advert. We are are selling snacks such as sweet cones, cans of pop and many more things at our movie night.
We started to look at the prices of what we needed to buy for our movie night, making sure we were looking for good quality products that were a good price so that we could make as much money as possible. Our finance team did a brilliant job at working with the numbers.
Our group facilitators also went to meet Darren (Oxley's CEO) in his big office to pitch our ideas for out business and ask for any advice.
What did you learn this week?
Darren taught is lots about business, talking to us about contacting other businesses to ask for donations for cakes, the importance of having a target for the business so that we all are aiming for the same thing. He also talked us through lots of ideas about how we could make a good profit.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it difficult when we were trying to find the products for a price where we could sell them to make a profit. Luckiy our finance team helped us with that!
Week 4
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week we had a mountain rescue visitor come in to school. His name was Sim and he came to tell us about what he does at mountain rescue and what he thought our money that we are raising for them would go to. He said it would like go towards their new headquaters that are being built. There old headquaters were very small and could hardly fit the rescue cars in. We also started to write some letters to ask for donations for our cake sale and create a poster for our movie night.
What did you learn this week?
We learned that advertising is really important to make sure that people now about your events.We had to make sure that we put all the information needed for parents. We had to work as a team to make sure we were all happy with what it looked like. Teamwork is also a lot used by Mountain Rescue.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it difficult to all agree on what to put on the poster so we did a vote when we struggled.
Week 5
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We sent out our finished donation letter and put our poster on facebook to let the parents know about the movie night. We took a survey of what film we should watch on our movie night.
What did you learn this week?
We learned how businesses advertise their events and communicate with customers. We also learned the importance of market research by using a survey to find out what film people wanted to watch, helping us make better decisions and attract more customers.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it difficult to choose a film that everyone would enjoy. We also had to think carefully about how to advertise our Movie Night so that lots of people would see it and want to come along.
Week 6 - 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 7
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week was our main event - the movie night. Everyone was very excited and brought pjs and teddys into school. We charged a £2 pound entry fee which meant that we made £240 before the movie night even started! We worked had to make sweet cones and popcorn ready to sell on our shop. Once the movie night started, our sales team ran the shop with the help of teachers. We watched The Magic Far Away Tree. We all had an amazing time and most of the school came.
What did you learn this week?
We learned that when it gets busy we can work together to make sure we provide a good service to our customers. We can make a lot of money from a Movie Night. We learned about how we needed to have a float behind our shop to be able to give change and take that away at the end.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it difficult to keep up with the amount of people trying to buy sweets and popcorn from our shop. We also found it hard to get all of the products made in time.
Our Movie Night
Sweet Cone Production
Week 8
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week has been really busy. We firstly had a cake sale at Oxleys. We were met by, Jane, Emily and Darren and they helped up set up in their break room. We sent more of our sales people to sell all the cakes that we had bought and that had been donated. Everyone was so kind there and we had a lot of fun. Because we had cakes left we also sold the left overs after school and the next day during playtime. Making deals so that we had no cakes left in the end. When then had a cake sale at school during the afternoon at school.
What did you learn this week?
This experience taught us how important teamwork, communication and problem-solving are in a business. We learned that sometimes you need to adapt your plans, such as finding new ways to sell leftover stock. We also improved our confidence when talking to customers and learned how businesses work.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it challenging to sell all our cakes and talk to unfamiliar adults. However, we became more confident, worked as a team and found ways to sell every cake in the end.
Week 9
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We have been carefully counting and adding up all of the money from our different fundraising events to work out exactly how much we have raised. This has helped us practise our maths skills and understand how important it is to keep track of money in a business. We were excited to see our total grow after each cake sale and our Movie Night, and we felt really proud when we realised how much money we had raised for Mountain Rescue.
What did you learn this week?
We learned how important it is to keep accurate records of money in a business. We practised adding large amounts, checking our calculations and working together to track our profits. It also helped us understand how fundraising and budgeting work in real life.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it difficult to add up lots of money from different events and make sure our totals were correct. We had to be careful, check our calculations and work together to avoid mistakes.
For pupils to answer:
In one sentence please tell us what bright stars has meant to you?
I loved learning how a real business works and visiting Oxley’s. It taught me lots about teamwork and leadership. I feel really proud that we raised so much money for a charity that we chose ourselves
For teachers to answer:
Can you tell us the impact this programme has had on your school?
Bright Stars continues to have a hugely positive impact within our school. The Year 4 children have shown incredible enthusiasm and commitment whilst creating and running their own business, Victoria on the Rescue. Having the support of our business partner, Oxley’s, has been invaluable, helping children see how the skills they learn in school apply in the real world.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the programme has been seeing the growth in confidence across the cohort. Whether taking on the role of CEO, leading an event, speaking to visitors or working as part of the sales team, many children have stepped outside of their comfort zones and developed valuable leadership and communication skills.
The programme has also inspired younger pupils across the school. One Year 3 child has even started her own small business, creating and selling bookmarks at playtimes. This demonstrates how Bright Stars helps children realise that being entrepreneurial from a young age is possible and achievable.
The opportunities to organise events such as cake sales and a movie night have brought learning to life in a meaningful way. In addition, meeting members of Mountain Rescue helped children understand the impact their fundraising could have and gave them a real insight into the work of an important local organisation.
Overall, Bright Stars has been a fantastic learning experience, developing confidence, teamwork, creativity and ambition whilst showing children that they can make a genuine difference to causes they care about.
Please provide your business plan.
Please provide your marketing plan.
Please provide your finance report/template.
Charity name/money donated to.
Mountain Rescue
Final profit (minus the £50 seed funding).
£1,522.60
Prize categories and reasons
Best team work, collaboration and leadership
We think we should win this award because we worked together brilliantly as a team. We worked with Oxley’s, voted fairly for our facilitators and listened to everyone’s ideas. We organised a Movie Night and cake sales, making sure everyone was involved and had an important job to do.
Most profitable social enterprise
We think we should win the Most Profitable Social Enterprise award because we worked hard to organise cake sales and a Movie Night. By working together and planning carefully, we raised an amazing £1,522.60 for Mountain Rescue and helped support a great cause.
