ST COLUMBA'S HIGH SCHOOL

TALENTED FUNDRAISERS

St Columba's annual Advent Challenge made full use of students' talents this year. Some took up the Enterprise challenge to put their creative abilities to work for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), which supports poor communities overseas, raises awareness of the underlying causes of poverty and campaigns for a fairer world.

A small grant was made available for raw materials and the talent and effort was donated by the pupils themselves: all for the benefit of those less fortunate than themselves. Vikki Ward and Kirsty McGartland produced a range of landscapes which were mounted and framed and sold to staff and parents at the Bring and Buy and School Concert. The original works proved so popular that both artists are currently working on commissioned pieces.

Another popular creation was the work of fifth year pupil Marie Claire Docherty, who designed her own range of jewellery which clients were able to have customised to their wishes. Marie Claire and her business associates, Katy Leck and Kathryn McGuigan, were kept busy meeting demand. SCIAF benefited from these talented individuals who put their hard work and creative talent to the best possible use this Christmas.

Following in the footsteps of last year's fifth year Enterprise group, this year's team at St Columba's High School are embarking on a major project to transform an old rose plot into a beautiful Japanese garden.

Now affectionately dubbed the Tree Unit, the enterprise team meet weekly and have enlisted the help of a number of groups and individuals within the school community from the School Council to the Nursery and other enterprise groups.

With a successful application made to the Determined to Succeed Innovation Fund, money was provided for tools and plants to kick start the project. Communication was crucial, so amongst many other endeavours, the Tree Unit prepared a PowerPoint presentation for the PTA and primary 7 parents at the induction evening.

One thing the team have learned is that preparation for such a project is vital and takes a great deal of time. Some of the Enterprise group have visited Dalry quarry to select rocks for the garden and spent hours in the Technical Department involved in a construction project that is to be a major feature of the garden - a Japanese gate. Thanks to the gardening know-how of Principal of Technical Studies, Mr Smith, and the support of Margaret Meiklejohn, the team are on target so far.

Primary seven pupils from our four feeder primaries were invited to our school, to take part in an Enterprise Conference. St Joseph 's and St Gabriel's teamed up for the morning session whilst Sacred Heart and St Ninian's took part in the afternoon event. The conference was organised and chaired by Robert Lamb, Enterprise Development Officer.

As part of the school's Young Enterprise group, Papillon, we aimed to provide a service to the cluster community by fulfilling the duties of a conference team; preparing the house area and organising all the material so that the day would run smoothly. Finally we designed and printed certificates to award to pupils taking part in the event.

On the day, every sixth year acted as an advisor, welcoming their group and helping them complete the four exercises of the conference. As one of the main aims of the conference was to emphasise the value of teamwork, each group was made up of pupils from both schools where possible.

The conference started with a short introduction by Mr Lamb and the ice was well and truly broken by the first exercise, We Will Rock You . The rest of St Columba's now knew that P7 had arrived! The Signature Exercise proved that you could always improve on your best whilst Tearing off a Strip saw teams really come together to accomplish their goal. Inverclyde's tourist industry was given a boost in the final task where each team produced a poster to promote the area.

As Primary seven met their challenges, we too as Group advisers learned a lot - how to allow the group to use their own ideas and work through problems instead of supplying the answers. We felt that we got better at this as time went on. The event allowed pupils to develop their teamwork skills and creativity amongst other enterprising benefits. It also contributed to their self-esteem. Papillon has as one of its main aims Service to the community , so the event gave us a sense of what we could achieve with careful planning, dedication and a lot of hard work!

Ace Catering is the Enterprise company that we established, consisting of four sixth year pupils: Manager, Kayleigh Carey; Lisa Daisley, Managing Director/Administration; Cherise Cleary in charge of Sales Marketing; and Maxine Tait, company's Personnel/Stock Assistant. Our aim - to supply the catering needs of our hungry school.

We decided to start up our own business and named it Ace because of the standards set in our practical cookery exam. The company is run in a manner that meets the requirements of any professional catering company, with staff learning about efficient business practice, health and safety issues and the demands of the marketplace.

School life has given us a range of opportunities which include a staff lunch for 90 people. We also cater for visitors to the school and for the special occasions when the guest list can reach up to 200. Our Christmas cake market was our latest venture but we look forward to the challenges of 2006.

Since introducing Ace Catering, we have learned a great deal about running a business and completed a number of work modules. Above all, we feel that we have gained a lot of self esteem as we have tackled challenges which we would not have considered a year ago.

It is also true to say that ACE Catering provides a service to the school community and this is something in which we take great pride. We also seem to have become very popular when our friends are planning a party!

St Columba's Enterprise Club are working on a gem of an idea. With the support of Mrs McDaid and Miss Docherty, S1 to S3 pupils are involved in learning the skills of jewellery making. The club aims to use the proceeds from the sale of their creations-all totally original in design- to help finance an Enterprise room which will be used by the whole school.

Kerriann Clark S1 and Kathryn McBride S3 have successfully raised funds to supply basic equipment and materials. Club members are involved in the design and production of both jewellery and packaging. With Christmas on the way, here's hoping that their venture will prove to be a 'diamond'.

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