The Bright Stars competition, aimed at Primary school children across Cumbria, concluded with great success as young entrepreneurs showcased their innovative business ideas and social impact initiatives. The competition, which partners each school with a local business and provides an initial investment of £50, aimed to showcase opportunities and help to encourage high aspirations in primary children. This year’s objective was to make a profit and make a difference by following the very best examples of self-sustaining social enterprise. After eight weeks of dedication and hard work, the winners of the Bright Stars competition have been announced, highlighting their exceptional achievements and their positive contributions to their world and the lives of people around them.
St Pius X Primary School and BAE Systems
Most Profitable Social Enterprise: High Hesket CE Primary School and Penrith Building Society
The mini-entrepreneurs from High Hesket set up the Happy Hesket Stalls company to raise funds for the Great North Air Ambulance and their school. The children got busy planting seeds, making pompoms and making cakes for their ‘Big day’ fayre, as well as running a Bingo Bonanza. The children made an amazing £1,168.27 (minus £500 donation) over the trading period.
Best Social Enterprise Business Idea: Seaton Academy and Firpress
The budding mini-tycoons from Seaton Academy worked hard to create the Seaton Academy Cookbook to raise funds for the North Lakes Foodbank and their school. The children thought about their favourite recipes and researched the costs of different types of food. They wanted to create a cookbook with healthy recipes for £1 a person to encourage healthy eating within the local community. The book and recipes are brilliant.
Best Example of Teamwork and Collaboration: Langwathby Primary School and Diff-Ability CIC
The Langwathby Stars was the brainchild of the children from Langwathby Primary. They allocated roles and worked brilliantly as a team to ensure that every activity planned as part of their talent show were completed on time and to a high standard. They learnt how important it is to work as a team to run a successful business but also about leadership and how it’s important to be good at making decisions but also listening to people you work with and not being too bossy!
Best Example of Leadership: St Pius X Primary School and BAE Systems
The Project Pius entrepreneurs made Wacky Sacks to raise money for Autus, a charity that supports children with autism. The business mentors from BAE Systems helped the children to choose roles based on their skills and interests and appointed two project managers to make sure that everyone knew what they were doing and when the deadlines were. The project managers worked closely with the team leaders to make sure that they were working to time and budget. A great business idea and some great potential leaders!
Best Example of Community Engagement: Pennington CofE Primary School and Playdale Playgrounds
The Penn Pals from Pennington Primary school social enterprise idea was to run a café on Friday mornings to bring the community together. They invited different volunteers from the local community to help the children to bake cakes for the pop-up café. They learnt that they could learn new skills by researching on the internet and by involving the community. The café brought people together and we are so pleased that the Penn Pals coffee mornings are continuing into next year.
Best Demonstration of being Great Communicators: Boltons CofE School and PPM Ltd
The mini-tycoons at Boltons Primary setup Blooming Boltons to brighten up the community and attract bees. The children wrote letters to ask for donations of wellies and to lots of supermarkets in their community, asking for plants and compost. As a result, they got over 70 wellies donated and Morrisons, Tesco’s and Tynedale Farm Services all kindly donated plants and compost. The sale was a huge success with the customer service team responsible for greeting and talking to the customers.
Best Example of Staying Positive/Resilient: Netherton School and Forth
The Pebbles of the Port was the social enterprise business set up by Netherton Infants. The pupils had to stay positive because initially they didn’t get many orders for their product so had to find new ways to promote the pebble frames to make sure the business was a success. They also struggled to get the design right and it took lots of perseverance and hard work to find the right size pebbles for the body and heads to fit into the frames. After the initial setbacks the mini business tycoons worked hard and sold all of their frames.
Most Positive Long-Term Impact: Gosforth CofE Primary School and Jacobs
The mini-entrepreneurs from Gosforth primary set up the Relaxation Ready social enterprise. Over the eight week trading period the children created ‘The Mini Book of Mindfulness’ with the tagline ‘It’s OK not to be OK’. The book contains a range of activities, recipes, an app and book suggestions to promote positive mental health to the local community around Gosforth. It is a book that can be used now and into the future to help people of all ages recognise the importance of mental health.
Best Business Plan: St Matthew’s CofE School and Mace
A Perfect Pet Show was the brainchild of the pupils from St Matthew’s Primary. The children realised the importance of their business plan to outline their business idea and ensure that their event was a roaring success! There were 42 pets entered into the show including dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, a snake, a calf, chicks and lambs. All proceeds raised will either be going towards a local animal charity or developing a wildlife garden within the school grounds.
Best Marketing Idea: Broughton Moor Primary and Orian
The mini-tycoons at Broughton Moor Primary set up the Broughton Moor Healthy Helpers making smoothies to sell to their local community. They chose three main themes – Coronation Smoothies, Totally Tropical Smoothies and Sunshine Smoothies. The project team developed a brilliant marketing plan to ensure the business was advertised within Broughton Moor to secure orders and make the business a success.
Best Example of Technology Use: Maryport CofE Primary School and Grisdales Property Services
The social entrepreneurs from Maryport Primary set up The Walking Warriors to develop a book to showcase walks in and around Maryport. The children wanted to encourage the local community to get out into the fresh air, get more exercise to benefit their health and to show off the beauty of the local scenery. The children used Strava and GoPro to create full walk videos and included QR codes so walkers could download the walks and check the weather before they went!
Best Logo: St Mary’s Catholic Primary School and Mott MacDonald
The pupils at St Mary’s set up the St Mary’s Community Missions and held a Water Run. The event was used to raise awareness of road and water safety to children and the local community. To support this activity the children designed some amazing posters and a brilliant logo showing all of the key attractions around their school.
The post-project survey reveals that students have not only grasped the essence of business and social enterprise but have also gained newfound confidence in expressing their ideas and seeking knowledge. Their optimism for the future is palpable, and they now possess a comprehensive understanding of diverse job opportunities.
According to a teacher at ST Michaels CE Primary School in Carlisle, “Bright Stars has had a huge impact on our school. It has brought our local community closer to the school through the coffee morning. It has allowed parents and carers to share in the work the children have been up to. Through working with Forth Engineering, it has allowed us to engage the children in the world of business, which they would not have had the opportunity to do otherwise. The children have developed new skills and found things they didn’t know they could do, which has given them so much confidence. The whole project has brought the children in the class closer together. They have developed their teamwork and collaboration skills really well. The children are listening better to each other and taking on board other children’s ideas. They have developed their oracy and what they want to say to their peers and adults.”
Meanwhile, a pupil at Montreal Church of England Primary School expressed, “We have enjoyed working together, making money, having fun, and being creative.”
The remarkable achievements of these talented primary school children and their esteemed business mentors will be celebrated at Energus next Friday. For more information about the event, kindly contact Claire Johnson at claire.johnson@cforlp.org.uk.
To participate in the upcoming Bright Stars competition in October, sign your business up here
