Young Enterprise Day at Our Lady of Sion Junior School

Year 6 pupils at Our Lady of Sion Junior School enjoyed a day learning about global trading last week, when Georgina Angele, Area Development manger for ‘Young Enterprise’ and two volunteer assistants spent the day in school with them, as part of the school’s enrichment programme.

The pupils started off the day by playing ‘The Trading Game’, where the children were introduced to the idea of imports from various countries through an examination of objects such as their shoes, clothing labels, pencil cases, calculators etc. The places of origin were highlighted using a world map.

Children then began to learn how less developed countries interact with - and rely on - more developed countries by exploring issues such as debt, exchange and fair-trading. This activity involved the production, marketing and retail of a product with a constantly changing value. This gave the children a real insight into the competition and uncertainty of the market place.

The children were divided into groups, and were asked to decide on an idea for a new product to sell in one of five fictional countries. They had to remember to take into account all the special requirements for their country; such as the laws, cultural influences, relative wealth and infrastructure, in choosing their product. At the end of the day, each group produced a poster or other form of advertisement for their product. The day was jointly funded by the school, the parents, and Sion Friends’ Association.

The Young Enterprise Organisation is a registered charity which promotes an activity-based scheme of learning to enable children of all ages to gain a better understanding of international trade and the issues surrounding it. They make use of  volunteers from local businesses to help deliver their programmes, so that pupils are learning from real-life examples.

The children who took part all really enjoyed the day. These are some of their comments:
 'It was the best Friday of the term!' Daphne Li
 'I really enjoyed the trading activity - it was just like 'The Apprentice'.'  Rebecca Farrow
 'The best bit was the jingle we made up to market our product - it was really catchy!' Matthew Kidd
 'I liked designing a new product for a gadget-mad society. Everybody wanted our 'Celebrochat' - an interactive hologram of any famous celebrity you wanted!' Henry Norman.

 

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