Ballymoney High School, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

Ballymoney High School in Northern Ireland has been involved with Achievers International for over 7 years and has had some of the most successful partnerships to date. They run Achievers as an extra curricular activity, and have a thriving business that is partnered with Berufliche Schule Hangelsberg in Germany. Having been partners for several years they have taken part in a number of joint events and formed strong friendships between the students and staff.

This year they have been extremely active, as detailed below by Kemuel Nesbitt, the Achievers teacher coordinator.

In November we took 10 students to a European Business campus at FEZ Berlin. This link came through our partner school a few years ago and this is our second time in attendance. This was an extremely profitable event and has really boosted the self-confidence of those who attended.

The theme was Corporate Social Awareness and the students have since been applying it to their business practices. On this trip they also took the opportunity to offer ’free delivery’ to their partners and filled their suitcases with various items from biscuits to Blu-tack.

We still managed to take time out in the middle of the week for a surprise birthday party! Our German partners joined us at our hotel and brought a birthday cake to help Melissa celebrate her 16th birthday.

At Christmas we imported a large supply of Halloren chocolates and once again these sold well. Profits were not high, but approx 100 boxes were sold. Funds were boosted by selling glow-sticks at the annual school disco.

The students work on their business plan at the European Business Campus

Listening to advice from experts during the       European Business Campus

Charlotte and Maximillian share their thoughts on how the joint website should look

Students from Ballymoney High and Gesamtschule Petershagen during their visit to Ballymoney

The first exchange visit took place at the end of February when our partners visited us here in Ballymoney. Their visit was short, but we managed to fit in quite a bit of sightseeing and leisure as well as a very profitable day’s work on the project.

The return visit will take place at the end of June, when we hope that the website will be completed and ready for launch. Flights have already been booked and over the next few months both sets of students have a lot of work to do to get all the materials ready.

Following the business campus in Berlin an opportunity has arisen to put the theory of Corporate Social Responsibility into practice. We became aware of a local charity that helps people in Uganda by providing them with the means to become self-sufficient. Often this is as simple as providing a family with few hens, allowing them to generate a small income by selling the eggs.

Our students offered to fund some of these ventures. However we were also put in touch with a school in Uganda that wanted to teach their students on ways to become self-sufficient and were trying to do this by organising craft workshops. This was an expensive undertaking and it was proving impossible to get funds to buy tools and materials suitable for making products of high quality.

Our mini-business has now agreed to provide start-up capital of around £195 for a small group who will be making leather bracelets. This money will cover the cost of a table and four chairs (they didn’t have any in their work room) as well as all the necessary materials and tools.

In addition they will now be able to afford a tutor who will come to the school and teach them how to make the bracelets. Once finished, the bracelets will be sent to our students who will market them, assisted by their German partners who are also going to be part of this project.

Our year so far has been quite busy and profitable. It would be impossible without the enthusiasm and commitment of the students involved and to see how they grow in confidence and experience through their involvement in the mini-business is fantastic.

Some of the Ballymoney students had this to say about Achievers:

Charlotte – 16 (and also Head Girl) “I have gained a lot of skills from the Mini-Business that I feel will benefit me in later life.”

Lauren – 16 “Mini-Business is great! I love getting together with our group. I really enjoyed meeting our German partners and working on projects with them.”

Ballymoney High School

Well done to Ballymoney High School and their business BBB Mini-Business. They are a great example of the benefits of partnering with a school abroad and the additional projects that can be created alongside Achievers. If you'd like to add your school report to the News section, then please contact us.

The Achievers International Team