Coherent Planning Schedule
Planning schedules are made up to help everyone on the group, by letting them know what they are doing, what it involves, when it has to be done by and also what everyone else is doing. Below are the job positions within the group.
Managing Director – Faye
Secretary – Lauren
Personal Director – Krista
Finance Director – Jagdeep
Sales Director – Joe G
Marketing Director – Joe L
Operation Director – Charlie
ICT Directors – Phil & Harkanwal
Before the disco started we had made a plan of what everyone’s job was to do and their responsibilities throughout the disco so then when it came to the night of the disco everyone knew what they where going to do. This was the original plan of everyone’s job;
Front door and raffle tickets – Jag and Joe L
Food and drinks – Harkanwal, Joe G, Charlie and Phil
Supervisors of year 7’s – Lauren, Kristina and Faye
Near the time of the disco the schedule had to be changed due to 2 members of the group not being able to make the disco to help out because, one of the members had to work and was unable to get time off and the second was ill. This was the second plan of everyone’s job
Front door and raffle tickets – Jag and Joe L
Food and drinks – Harkanwal, Joe G and Phil
Supervisors of year 7’s – Lauren, Charlie
On the night of the disco everyone knew what their positions were. As the night developed on the positions started to change for instance more than two people were needed to serve the food and drinks because of the demand for the year 7’s wanting food and drinks increased. The final plan of everyone’s job was;
Jag and Joe L on the door for the first half of the evening, then around 8ish Joe L went to help with the food and drinks and Jag stayed at the door throughout the evening. Charlie and Harkanwal stayed on the food and drinks however, they were replaced momentarily because they had to go Tesco therefore Joe L and Lauren took their place. When they came back all four of them remained at the food and drinks area. Charlie was supervising the disco and also helping out where help was needed, sometimes at the food and drinks and at the front door.
Administrative system requirements
Physical Human Resources
Hall Staff
Disco Year 7
Tables & Chairs Year 12
Food & Drinks DJ
Balloons
Posters
We used the schools admin system which was registration time to help us with our administration which was to hand out letters. This was very successful because we could target every year 7 child.
To book the hall we tried a number of times to contact the headmaster. However, we were unable to contact him so we then tried with his personal secretary and once again, we were unable to contact her, as she was busy or away. We then decided to use our link teacher to try to communicate with either the head teacher or his secretary. Our link teacher was successful in contacting them. We gave our link teacher a date for the disco, the link teacher then went to the secretary to ask if we could book the hall on this date however the hall was already booked for something else. So then when the link teacher came back to tell us the hall was already booked we had to re-arrange the date of the disco. We then give the new date to our link teacher who then went to the secretary and the secretary told her once again, it was booked for another event. After about 4 different days we finally got the date to book the hall for the disco, so we booked it before another different event arose and we had to change the date again.
We used posters to advertise as then this could help promote the disco also, the year 7’s would not forget and if they did, there were posters around the school in the corridors.
To use the tables and chairs for the disco, we asked the caretaker if he could leave a few spare tables and chairs out. He replied saying ‘Ok the tables can be arranged to stay in the hall after school and as for the chairs, they would be left in the canteen so you can use those chairs’.
To speak to the staff we used the school admin time once again which was the registration time. Once we found out where each staff member on our list of staff coming we went to their form rooms and got them to sign a contact saying that they will be attending the disco.
To get the DJ we used the Internet search engine site and typed in local DJ for Hertfordshire. This came up with a list of all the DJ’s operating across Herts. We started to eliminate all these DJ’s by distance being the further away from Baldock not hiring them. Once we cut the list down, we phoned the new shorter list of DJ’s to get a price list. We eliminated more DJ’s by the higher the price they charge to DJ; we would not need their service. We where then left with two DJ’s and we decided to go with the DJ’s from baldock as he was the closest and cheapest.
To acquire the food and drink we went to the cheapest food store, which was Lidl and bought all the food and drink from there as then we could keep the costs down even more. This was convenient for us as it was only up the road for us
Contingency plan
Before the disco we had made a contingency plan in case something happened before, during and after the disco times. Our first problem could have been what if no DJ turned up. The way we would deal with this if it happened, was we had a back up hi-fi system which was in the common room for 6 formers to use. So we could have used that hi-fi system and for the music we were going to bring in our own CDs. In addition, we were going to phone him in advance to make sure he hadn’t forgotten to come to the disco.
Another contingency plan was what if a fight broke out, so to deal with this we had asked a number of staff to attend including ourselves to break the fight up if one did happen. Also we thought what happens if a child disappeared. We overcame this problem by saying once entered the disco you were not allowed to leave regardless of the situation unless you were getting picked up and we could see the parent.
Another contingency plan we considered is if there was a power cut in the building. The reason why we considered this was because a couple of days before the disco there were a number of power cuts across Baldock lasting roughly about half an hour each. To solve the power cut crises if there was one, we asked the caretaker if there was a emergency power generator in the school, which he said yes, so therefore if there was a power cut there would have been a back of electricity around the school.
Also we considered for a contingency plan if the disco had been cancelled due to dangerous reasons e.g. major water leak in the hall, toxic gases breaking out. So if this or any other reasons arose there was a emergency letter we had produced prior to the disco which was going to be given to the year 7 students before hand explaining why the disco had to be cancelled. See appendix 4
Another contingency plan was in case of not enough staff turning up to help out, we would only let in the students who have paid to get in and stop selling tickets at the door. However if there was not enough staff to help we had a cancellation letter ready to hand out to the year 7s.
The last contingency plan was what if a year 7 student had an Epileptic fit and on the disco the DJ was using strobe lighting. So we overcame this problem by telling the DJ not to use any strong lights and if a child still felt funny there was a qualified first aid staff at the disco.
Utilisation skills in communication
Written skills
We used written skills before the disco had started. We were initially going to go around handing the tickets out and just collect the money in a piggy bank however nearer the time we realised that this was not a very good way of collecting and issuing the tickets. The reason why was because firstly what happened if a child lost their ticket it. So we would need evidence showing that they have paid and if they did lose their tickets which a few year 7’s did lose their tickets we still would allow them to enter because we had evidence that they had paid for the disco. Also another problem with this was there was no way of keeping an accurate record of all the money from the ticket sales. The necessary changes we had to make in order to respond to these situations was we obtained a list of every child in every form, then from here each person from our group was nominated to take charge of a form. By ticking the name of each child who had paid, there was an accurate way of keeping this information that they had paid. Another method we had devised was instead of keeping all the money in a piggy bag, we each had a plastic wallet so then as well as an accurate record of children coming there was an accurate record of how much money was made per form. See appendix 5. We also used written skills to help communicate with the secretary, taking minutes in each of the meetings, which would show what happened in the meetings for instances what each person said and anything that had been achieved etc. We used written skills to help us in organising the disco. We had to write a parent consent letter. This letter was about getting permission for the year 7 child to attend the disco from their guardian/parent. We also used written skills to produce a poster to help with promotion and tickets to show proof of purchase. The two last pieces of written skills we had used was firstly to get the teachers’ signature on a letter as evidence they were attending the disco and finally, on the night of the disco we were crossing off all the names of students who attended. We where crossing the names of on 7 large A3 papers. Each paper contained the form name and the student in that from which we obtained from the head of year 7 teacher. Before the disco, we had marked on the paper of the students who had paid and brought in their consent letter.
Oral skills
One way we used oral skills to communicate was by attending meetings, which was held every Friday 3rd period. In these meetings we would discuss any ideas we had about the disco and also any problems there where to do with the disco. At the end of every meeting we would always come up with a conclusion on how to resolve the problem(s) efficiently. Other oral skills we used were to book the DJ. Once we had his number we had to phone him up and ask him how much he was going to charge for a disco. After deciding to use him as a DJ, we had to phone him back up asking him firstly if he would be free on that certain date to DJ for us and secondly if we could book him. Furthermore, we organised meetings between our group, which allowed us a chance to discuss any problems or important information concerning the disco, which needed to be sorted out. We had two meetings a day for four days before the disco was going to take place to solve any problems, which had arisen, and to make any late adjustments such as the change of plan for everybody’s job on the night
ICT skills
We used ICT skills when producing a parent consent letter as this would give it a professional look. We used ICT to help produce the tickets because then no year 7’s would be able to counterfeit the tickets and sell it off to other year 7’s at a lower price. See appendix 6. We could have used emails as another ICT skill used which would have helped us in communicating with each other outside school. The reason why this would have been a good way of communicating is because then we would be able to send emails to each other reminding us of what jobs/tasks need to be done and what has been done. Another ICT skill would have been sending text messages to each other. This would have done the same job as an email but the only difference would have been everybody in the group carried a mobile phone so it would be certain that everybody would have read the text message. Whereas for an email, because no body carried a computer around with them or a blackberry phone which gives access to their email accounts they might have only checked it once a day. The final piece of ICT we used was to create a poster, to help with promotion. We created the poster on Microsoft word and printing off in colour to make them stand out even more. See appendix 7
Working with others
We have all found out that it is essential if a business wants to succeed everybody in the group has to perform their best and not slack in any way whatsoever. The skills we lacked as a group were oral skills, communicating with each other because instead of making decisions about the disco we spent most of our time arguing about information that had no relevance to the disco therefore as a result we wasted a lot of time. However, nearer the time of the disco we had stopped arguing amongst our selves and were able to work together as a team to discuss any problems we had about the disco and how to try to resolve these problems.
Working with staff was not very easy for a number of reasons, firstly because most of the time they where hard to locate and when we did find the staff they were too busy such as the headmaster. Also when we came across an idea they wanted all the details being big and small. We know they were right to questions us but sometimes they questioned us too many times especially when the details did not matter.
Responding to new information
The first problem, which arose before the disco was we needed staff to help supervise the disco. So we overcame this by asking the teachers whom we thought would come. After gaining all the staff as supervisors the next problem, which occurred, just before the disco was we needed to get the signatures of these teachers, as we needed proof that the teachers were going to come. We simply went back to the staff who we got permission from and told them to sign a paper with there name on as our proof. Also on this paper was a small tick box with a small question about first aid, which was asking them whatever they were qualified for first aid or not. If they were then they would tick the box which one of the staff members attending the disco was qualified. See appendix 6. The last problem, which arose before the disco, was a few members of our group were away. The way in which we overcame this was, the members who where there at the disco we gave them more responsibility for the night.
Effective use of team work
The way in which we used teamwork most effectively was when we had to sale the tickets to each form initially the plan was for one person in the group to go around all the forms selling and collecting the money. Then the next day a different member from the group would do the same however we found out this was not a very could way of collecting and distributing because this was very time consuming as there were a lot of students in a form so we came upon a decisions to have each student nominated to form and it would be there responsibility to collect the money and distribute the tickets efficiently.
Evaluation
With the disco, there were a number a successes and failures. The successes we made were as follows
- Made a reasonable profit
We had made a profit from the ticket sales, raffle and on the food and drinks. See appendix 8
- Disco ran smoothly
The disco ran smoothly because during the disco no problem occurred such as fights between other students
- Hired good DJ
The DJ we hired was good because all the year 7 at the end of the disco said they liked the DJ and throughout the disco the impression was the year 7 children were enjoying their time
- Kept the year 7’s parents happy
The reason why this was one of the most important successes was because without the permission from the year 7 parent, they could have refused to send their child, which then we would have made no money on ticket sales, raffle and food and drinks
- Raffled the bear and made money on it
Previously when we tried to raffle the bear at a different event which we had failed so then we decided to try to raffle it again but this time with two different offers not only did we break even but made money on top of it.
- Hall not to be vandalised
At the end of the disco when we had to clean up, there was hardly any mess made in the disco and the sitting down area besides the food and drinks area and also no school equipment had been damaged.
- The year 7 student were happy
The year 7 students where happy at the end of the disco because they told us they liked the DJ and mentioned are we going to have another disco because we really enjoyed this one. Also throughout the disco the impression on the year 7 faces were of them enjoying their time
The failures of the disco were as follows
- Not getting enough ticket sales
The reason why this was a slight fail was because even though we had a fair large amount of year 7 attending the disco compared to the other year 7 who were not attending there was about more than half not attending. The reason why we thought this could have been a problem was because if the remaining year 7 students had come this would have brought up the final ticket sales figure meaning more profit. The reason why the other year 7 students did not come was probably we did not advertise it well enough also perhaps have competitions running through the disco to win prices could have attracted more of an audience.
- Not having enough food such as sweats
Near the start of the disco all the sweats had been sold out within half an hour which was a good thing however if we had more sweats then we could have had made even more money on the food because there was a high demand for the sweats
- Having to change the disco date several times
The reason why this became a problem was because we had to change the disco date several of times due to the hall always being booked. So if we had booked earlier we could have had the disco early in the year so then maybe if we wanted we could have had two discos instead of just one
- Staff member not happy
The reason why a staff member was not happy was because when we sent the letters out (the first consent letter) we did not ask the head of year 7 firstly if the letter contained all the right information, and also shall we send it because we just gave the letter out without asking. Also in the first consent letter there where many errors made such as wording mistakes and spelling mistakes
Overall, I think the disco was a success for the reason that we had archived 7 of our 8 objectives. The one objective we had failed was our own fault but as we knew what we had done wrong and how we could have done it right in the first place, the overall project was a success.
Questionnaire
- Would you be interested in a disco
Yes No
- Would you prefer the disco to be mixed with year 7 or just year 8 only
Yes No
- Would you prefer the disco to be mixed with year 8 or just year 7 only
Yes No
