Kerry school make history with JEP award win – ‘We were absolutely floored at the news'
It's the first time that a Kerry school has received the highest accolade of Class of the Year since the programme expanded nationally from Kerry in 2014, and in a double triumph for the county, Scoil Réalt na Mara in Cromane received the Community Champions Award.
News of Knocknagoshel's big win came as a complete surprise to everyone involved in the school as, in an all-island competition with 400 schools taking part, they beat the lot and came out top in the award category.
They first heard of the win when Vicky Landers from the Junior Entrepreneur Programme (JEP) team arrived at the school to deliver the news.
Speaking to The Kerryman on Tuesday, Suzanne Sheehy spoke of their shock at the win and revealed that it was the closure of the last shop in the village was the inspiration for the project. Knocknagoshel National School is situated in the centre of the village, and children have witnessed first-hand the adverse effects of losing the last shop, particularly on elderly people.
"We were absolutely floored. It was completely unexpected. The team from the Junior Entrepreneur Programme, kept it [the news] completely quiet and all under wraps. They wanted to see our reaction as it happened so none of us knew beforehand at all, it was absolutely fabulous,' she said.
"They [the kids] put so much work into it, they worked so hard on it. They really enjoyed it but it was a lot of hard work. They were just over the moon at the win. It took a while for the win to sink in for them. I don't think they fully got it when she [Vicky Landers from the JEP] said it at first. They didn't realise the magnitude of the win and what they had achieved,' she continued.
Suzanne revealed that 'The Mall Market' was chosen as the best project to enter thanks to a 'Dragon's Den' style event held earlier in the year in which the kids pitched their business ideas to three members of the local business community.
"Two of the boys, in particular, started off with the idea. They saw a gap in the market when the local shop here closed. There would be a lot of elderly people around the village and the other nearest shop is quite a bit away so getting something as basic as milk, for people who don't drive, was quite an ordeal,' she said.
"So they just thought 'if we could set up a community shop' and really that's where the idea started. They came up with the idea of a subscription box and rang around local suppliers. They did their research to find out what projects would be the most in-demand products and they went looking for those. They were bartering and haggling with the local business people and they made sure they still came out with their profit,' she continued.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we saw one or two of them on The Apprentice in 10 years' time!" she chuckled.
The Mall Market service has been running for eight weeks and has generated a profit of over €1,000 to date. The class treated themselves to a school tour with their profits.
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