Smiths goes Smath

By Molly, Emily, Izzy and Charley

The year sixes can no longer use the excuse "I’ve left it at home!"

Over the past few weeks, the year 6 girls of Claires Court Schools, The College have been running their own stationary stall in the foyer on Wednesdays at break time.

It all started when the class reps put forward the idea at a council meeting. In order to afford the supplies, year six wrote a letter to Mrs Green, asking for a loan of £205. She granted it and suggested the profit goes to the 3 for 3 charities which the school supports.

Before opening, the girls researched prices of products in high street stores to get an idea of pricing. They then ordered stock from a school supplies catalogue. Looking back, they say that they should have ordered a larger amount in one go but at the time, there was no telling how popular the stationary shop would be.

From January 2010, WH Smaths began. The girls take it in turns to run the stall, working from a register rota. We spoke to three year six girls: Victoria, Rachel and Shreya. They said that it’s great fun; the whole class is involved; they run the stalls by themselves with little input from Mr Carruthers and it helps to improve their understanding of money and business.

On their stall they sell a variety of stationary: pencils, rubbers, rulers, glue and more. So far there has been a fantastic reaction, with over one hundred and fifty customers. The girls had a brilliant idea of using raffle tickets as receipts so that if there was something wrong with a purchase, it could be exchanged for another. At the end of the term, a raffle ticket will be drawn at random so anyone who buys something from WH Smaths is in with a chance of winning a prize!

WH Smaths has been a great success and both teachers and other College girls have said that the year sixes are polite and helpful when running the stall. They plan to continue until the end of the school year as there is a growing profit which will be shared between the three charities and will be much appreciated. The whole of year six should be congratulated on their hard work and amazing achievements in the stationary shop.