Papakaio School pupils with some of the goods made from
recycled materials sold last week. From left: Matthew
Campbell (11) with lanterns, Izabella Hurst (10) with funky
chairs and Blain Hamilton (8) with stone mats. Photo by
David Bruce.
Young entrepreneurs at Papakaio School had the chance
last week to test their business skills in the real world, when
they sold products produced from recycled materials at a market
day.
About 80 year 3 to 8 pupils had a sympathetic market - family
and friends of the school.
For the previous four weeks, they had been divided into
groups of up to four to take part in PrEP - Primary
Enterprise Programme - designed to teach them a wide range of
skills by creating their own business and selling a product.
"They have to mimic the real world as much as possible,"
teacher Bronwyn Waldron said.
This year there was a twist - they had to take into account
sustainable business practice by creating a product from
recycled materials.
As part of the programme, each group had to design a product,
look at strengths and weaknesses, redesign it if necessary,
then manufacture, market and sell it.
They had to keep account of costs, ranging from materials to
wages.
Last Wednesday, they sold their products at the market day in
the Papakaio Community Centre from 11.30am.
People exchanged "real money" for "Papakaio dollars" at "a
very good exchange rate of $1 to $100", Mrs Waldron said.
After that, each group would study what went right and what
went wrong, learning from the experience.
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