For the second year in a row. the children in 5th Class have embarked upon the Junior Entrepreneur Programme. The Junior Entrepreneur Programme was created to afford primary school children in Ireland the opportunity to embrace entrepreneurship as part of their formative education.
Children used their creativity to come up with individual business ideas. They then came together in groups of 4 and 5 to select and develop the best idea(s) from each group. Next, they will present their ideas to the Dragons who will choose one “big idea” for the class to turn into reality over a 4-7 week period. They will meet with a local entrepreneur to hear his/her story and to ask questions. The children will carry out market research to test and refine their project idea before moving on to the next step. Here they will identify their unique strengths and talents and will then work out how they can best contribute to the business.
The children will break into five teams: Finance, Marketing, Design & Production, Sales and Storytelling before going on to make and sell their product. They will each invest a small amount of money in the product, which they will hope to recoup with a profit. They will calculate their estimated costs and sales, which they will compare with their actual results at the end of the programme. JEP will culminate in the school show case day, when the children’s learning, hard work and creativity will come together and family, the rest of the school and the members of the wider community will be invited to enjoy the results.
For futher information on the Junior Entrepreneur Programme, visit www.juniorentrepreneur.ie or click on the following link: