School: Mypolonga Primary School (SA)
Partner: Proud Australia Holidays
Mypolonga Primary School is a rural school with about 90 students in four classes. It is located in a fruit growing region on the Murray River specialising in the production of dried apricots. Although classified as moderately disadvantaged, the school is highly regarded and attracts a significant percentage of students from outside the immediate locality.
The school’s greatest achievement is its business, a craft shop run by its students which, every week for the past 14 years, has hosted tourists from a paddle steamer, the MV Expedition. The vessel is owned by ‘Proud Australia’, a tourism company specialising in environmental tours down the Murray River. Every Friday, a bus tour leaves the paddle steamer and visits local tourist attractions including the school shop. Tourists come from overseas and interstate.
The shop sells goods on consignment made by local craftspeople, who pay 20 per cent commission to the shop. Word has spread to such an extent that the shop receives crafts made by people from a wide area, including current and former students. The shop is open every Friday of the year, even through holidays and student-free days. An average of 25 student and parent volunteers operate the shop on these days.
The project originated when the local Post Office became vacant, and a student suggested turning the building into a school shop. This opportunity, which suggested a range of potential benefits for students, was taken up with enthusiasm by the school. Local craftspeople came in to teach the students how to make craft items. The shop opened after school. In 1995, the then Proud Mary (now MV Expedition) paddle steamer added the school shop to its itinerary. It was quickly realised that the tourists wanted to purchase high quality crafts, and so it was decided to change the focus of the shop to sourcing such crafts from local craftspeople, with students contributing a few simple items. In 2005, it was decided to move the shop onto the school grounds to better facilitate the management of the shop, and to broaden the opportunities to interact with the tourists. The shop has been so successful that the school is now an integral part of the paddle steamer’s itinerary.
There is a carefully constructed plan for the management of the shop. The whole upper primary class works in the shop every Friday, with trainees from the younger students taking turns in support roles. Students have shop assessment books, which record how students prepare for the each tour, work at their station and clean up afterwards. Assessment criteria have been established for each work station, and excellent service is expected of all students. Students are required to demonstrate that they are able to give correct change before being allowed to work with real money; customers are impressed by the fact that students can add up and give change without the use of calculators. Originally, the reconciliation of cash flows and stock control were handled by parent volunteers, but students now carry out these tasks under adult supervision.
While most of the goods are supplied on consignment, students do make a few items – bookmarks, fridge magnets, recipe books, lemon cordial, chocolate-coated apricots and plain apricots. Bags of chocolate-coated apricots are also provided for the boat – 40 bags each week. The school has also made a DVD informing tourists about the apricot industry and the various techniques involved at different stages of production. This DVD is shown on the bus before it arrives at school. The students have received enormous validation from the tourists, who love to see well mannered and highly motivated students.
The students have great pride in their work and have learnt about leadership, business management and accountability. Because of the need to give correct change and also to calculate commission and reconcile sales, their mathematics skills have improved greatly, and this has been demonstrated in their improved NAPLAN results. Both the school and Proud Australia are strongly committed to the continuation of the partnership.
The school will use the Impact Award money to access an IT professional to work with teachers and students in the development of a website to inform the community about the successful programs run at the school, including the School Shop program. The funds will also enable the school to update hardware, cameras and video cameras needed for the production of the website. Some of the funds will also be used to purchase literary resources for the development of early literacy learning.
