Laois school teaching business with chickens

Portlaoise College’s Business Department have begun their financial literacy journey with an exciting new project: “Learning Everything You Need to Know About How to Finance and Rear Chickens.”

The project got off to a great start as the energy and enthusiasm from students and staff has been remarkable from the outset.

It was all hands on deck as the initiative got underway. The new chicken coop arrived, and a fantastic team of both business and non-business students quickly got to work assembling it. Sincere thanks were extended to Ms K. Egan, Mr Palmer, Sanjay Stepanovs, Shane Mathews, Blayne Brown, Jack Keenan, and several others who generously gave their time and effort to lend a hand.

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This opportunity to develop practical financial and enterprise skills is open to all students from first year up to sixth year. The project is being integrated into both the Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate, enabling students to develop key skills such as financial planning, entrepreneurship, teamwork and project management.

The students presented their project in Croke Park at the launch of Global Money Week, an event that showcases innovative, student-led financial literacy projects from schools across Ireland.

Portlaoise College Principal Noel Daly praised the initiative and the students involved. 

“Projects like this bring learning to life. They give our students the chance to develop real-world financial and enterprise skills while working collaboratively and creatively. It’s a wonderful example of the initiative and enthusiasm we encourage at Portlaoise College,” said Mr Daly. 

This project is proudly supported by the CCPC’s Our Money, Our Future campaign for Global Money Week 2026, together with Portlaoise College and the Business Department.