PICS: Carrigaline TY students bring their products to Christmas market 

TRANSITION Year students from a Cork secondary school recently held a Christmas market in their school where they showcased their TY mini-company products.

Business teacher Mary Quill said the event at the Edmund Rice College in Carrigaline proved very successful.

“The fourth-year students have been working on their mini company products since the end of September,” she said.

“We have nearly 100 students in fourth year. We had eight different mini companies showcasing on the day.

“They were selling the products to the students in the school. All the other school year classes visited the market. They were selling baked goods such as cookies and brownies. 

"Another group were selling DIY crochet kits, handmade jewellery with crystal, lip gloss which they made themselves, protein shakers and Christmas cards.” 

The young entrepreneurs must now decide their next steps.

“They reported big sales on the day,” M Quill said. “They now must choose whether they will divide out the profits or reinvest the profits if they keep going.

“It is all run as part of the Local Enterprise Office with the schools - the Student Enterprise Programme.”

Ms Quill is full of praise for the many benefits TY students gain from working on mini-company projects throughout the school year.

“It is a great initiative,” she said. “Within the groups they learn about running a business in the sense of coming up with an idea, carrying out their market research as they survey the whole school and doing up prototypes of products. They also learn how to write up a business report which enables them to enter competitions with their business ideas.”

The Christmas market also helped create a festive spirit in the school, said Ms Quill.

“There was a lovely atmosphere on the day. One of the students dressed up as Santa Claus and we had Christmas music playing. It was nice for the school to get some Christmas cheer in the build up to the holidays.”