THE enterprising pupils of St Ninnidh’s PS in Derrylin, pictured in our gallery below, have been basking in all-Ireland glory after beating off tough competition to be named the country’s top ‘Creative Pioneers’.
The P7 class had been competing in the Junior Entrepreneur Programme, which put the pupils’ creative talents to the test.
Following brainstorming sessions with and presentations to local business experts – including Danielle Cadden from CADCO, Fiacre O’Donnell from ENCIRC, Dara O’Reilly from MANNOK, and Mark McCaffrey from Crust and Crumb – the students came up with a range of innovative business ideas. These included a comic book called ‘Bean Ink’, a podcast called ‘Derrylin Diaries’, and car stickers called ‘Flat to the Mat.’ They also created a special mug themed around local band The Tumbling Paddies, cleverly named ‘Ceol agus Ól’, which was selected by the experts as the winning idea.
“After a rigorous Q&A session with the experts, the winning idea was ‘Ceol Agus Ól – A Tumbling Paddies Mug,’ which the ‘Dragons’ believed would be most successful for our students to pursue, given that the pupils are huge fans of the band and that Gareth Maguire attended St. Ninnidh’s PS,” said a rightly proud P7 teacher Cassie Cadden.
“Following this, our pupils had the opportunity to visit The Crust and Crumb factory to learn about the different aspects of running a business. They then divided into teams – design, marketing, sales, and finance. The Marketing team conducted market research for CEOL AGUS ÓL through interviews and surveys, while the Design team held an Art Competition to select the mug’s design and lyrics.”
Miss Cadden added, “Our students sold their product in the local village, had a pop-up shop in Centra Derrylin, created a website, designed a QR code for ordering, and made over £400 in profit! “They even used Adobe to document their experiences in the programme on a website.
“We are incredibly proud of their achievements and winning the award for the 2024 JEP programme.”
*Please note, the article published in this week’s paper mistakenly said the mug was designed by St Aidan’s pupils.
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