Business Leaders of Tomorrow

Posted: 18/03/2011

West Jesmond Primary School and Jesmond-based Cafe Bar One have teamed up for an innovative project that teaches Year 4 pupils about business.

Eighty 8 - 9 year olds have been working on a project which taught them the basics of design, communications, team work and selling, raising money for their school charity in the process.

The pupils have been working with Cafe Bar One, a local business owned by Gerard and Jo Davidson.  Both worked in management positions for the financial and insurance sectors for a number of years previous to setting up their own cafe and catering business, and as such were the perfect candidates to teach the children about enterprise.

The pupils were set the task of coming up with their own design for individual cupcakes, which included designing packaging and planning their sales approach. Four pupils were selected to represent the year at the Jesmond Community Festival to sell the cup cakes, which taught them further skills such as handling money and dealing with customers.

New head teacher Gary Wallis-Clarke is passionate about creating an outstanding school, and feels that projects such as this are an important part of the learning process.

Gary commented: “We wanted the children to think about what it takes to get a product to market, but in a fun way. We brought in professionals outside of the school because we wanted to teach them how things work in the ‘real world.’  This project has taught them about design, communications, packaging and selling. They have really enjoyed the process and it has taught them some really valuable skills.”

Cafe Bar One owners Gerard and Jo Davidson spent time with the children talking to them about creating and selling products, and left them with decorations so that they could create their own designs.  Jo Davidson commented: “My aim was to get the kids interested in food in a fun way and to also raise some cash for the school charity.  I come from a business background and am a mum so I was able to teach the children about enterprise but on their level.  The kids have loved coming up with designs and thinking about how they’re going to package and sell the product.”

The finished cupcakes were sold by pupils on Cafe Bar One’s stand at the Jesmond Community Festival last Saturday 19 March 2011.