About
Pupils Profit uses ethical enterprise initiatives to empower children with skills and tools to make a positive difference to their community.
Our ECO Refill Shop allows children to actively engage their wider school community in reuse by setting up a refill shop at school. The convenience of refilling as part of the school routine is well received by parents, carers and staff and we can demonstrate behaviour change within the communities. The shops sell refills of affordable household products including hand wash, body wash, washing up and laundry liquids, and empty bulk containers are returned to the manufacturers for reuse there, providing the children with a powerful example of circularity in action.
The children running the refill shop are responsible for their business; they create a business plan and apply for and take on specific job roles. They run their shop for a school year, during which they develop measurable workplace and life skills. At the end of the year the team pass the business on to a new cohort.
We're currently working with a number of Councils in London and further afield in Essex and Greater Manchester.
If you'd like more detailed information please get in touch info@pupilsprofit.com
Testimonials:
‘I just wanted to say I thought the refill shop was brilliant! I wasn't expecting a choice of different scents/flavours, that was great! And the children manning the shop did a fantastic job.’ Parent
‘As captured on the schools twitter account the eco refill shop had lots of engagement from pupils and the wider school community. As a parent and school governor it was really beneficial to see this ethical entrepreneur scheme in action, supporting the children’s learning around sustainability, team working, numeracy and so much more.' Parent Governor
'Maths is used often during refill shop. We use it to calculate change and the total cost to the customer' Pupil
'One of our customers brought an extra large bottle. We wasn't sure how to fill this up. This was something we needed to solve on the spot.' Pupil
'This project has made me more confident to talk to people I don't know and people I'm shy to talk to' Pupil
We're grateful for the support received from ReLondon, Hounslow Council, Wandsworth and Richmond Councils, Kingston Council, Hackney Council, GMCA, Exxon County Council, Sea-Changers Marine Conservation Charity and the GLA.
I founded Pupils Profit about a decade ago after a career in international retail. Initially I used healthy tuck shop enterprises to build skills and instil healthy eating habits in children. Shortly before the lockdowns I had the idea to adapt the concept of a school tuck shop into a child led school based refill shop. During the lockdowns schools closed and then operated in bubbles and business stopped completely, giving me the time to develop the concept. In 2021 I was granted seed funding by the GLA as part of Green New Deal to create a pilot of schools, and based on the impacts of the pilot further pilots are being established in London and in coastal schools. 2022 and 2023 have seen interest from a number of London Boroughs and exciting work starting with Hounslow Council's Heston in the Loop ultra low waste neighbourhood, and further pilots being established in Wandsworth and Richmond schools.
My interests have always centred around health and personal responsibility, and my belief is that was cannot wait for 'someone else' to fix things for us. I love and respect the natural world and hope the refill shops will be a successful catalyst for more responsible behaviour in human societies.