Castle Gardens Wins Global Entrepreneurship Week Competition
​Pupils rise to entrepreneurship challenge!
To celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week 8 -14 November, Ards and North Down Borough Council, in partnership with Young Enterprise Northern Ireland, set schools the challenge of coming up with their own global food idea. The challenge educated pupils about global entrepreneurship as well as developing key skills including creativity and team working. Pupils were asked to submit their ideas by designing a poster with an accompanying 30 second advertisement.
First prize was awarded to Castle Gardens P7W class who came up with the idea of ‘Half Dipped Cookies’. These were snacks that the pupils gave the catchy slogan ‘A nutritious crunchy treat that you can't beat!’
Joint runner up was awarded to Ballyvester Primary School (pictured below) who combined all their innovative food product ideas into one vending machine called ‘Everything Granola – totally NUTritious.’ Along with Castle Gardens P7T ‘Grab and Go’ box. A healthy snack box that contains yogurt, granola and a spoon.
Hazel Wilson, a teacher from Castle Gardens talked about the benefits of taking part,
‘P7W thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Pupils developed their team building and communication skills and increased their confidence in presenting too. It was great to get them thinking about the target market for their product. We will look forward to the next competition!’
Young Enterprise NI were impressed with all the competition entries. The pupils showed they had engaged with the challenge and taken the time to come up with creative and innovative ideas and presentations.
Carol Fitzsimons MBE, Young Enterprise NI Chief Executive, commented,
"The support of Ards and North Down Council for this business challenge during Global Entrepreneurship Week is great at highlighting to pupils the importance of business in the world around them. These young people have shown they really understand these concepts, through developing their own product ideas and showcasing how they would promote them.’
Mayor of Ards and North Down Borough Council, Councillor Mark Brooks echoed praise of the pupils involved,
“The Council has been delighted to work in partnership with Young Enterprise Northern Ireland in running this exciting competition for the schools across the Borough. The challenge allowed students to gain an insight into the world of business and entrepreneurship giving them the opportunity to develop skills and an understanding of what is involved in running their own business.
Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Challenge and well done to all of our well-deserved winners!”