How to take part in the Student Enterprise Programme (SEP)

The Local Enterprise Office in Wexford will reach out to all secondary schools in County Wexford in September asking them if they wish to take part in this year's Student Enterprise Programme.

Schools who wish to participate in the programme and competition must register online here.

Groups or Individual Entrepreneurs

Mini-companies can be started and run by groups of students with a maximum of five members being allowed to represent the group at County and National Finals should they progress. Individuals can run their own enterprises either but we would encourage teachers to try and get students to work in groups to build their teamworking skills.

Normally a teacher enters a whole class into the programme.

The Student Enterprise Programme Competition

While all students who participate in the Student Enterprise Programme should benefit from it by developing new skills and increasing their confidence, for groups who wish to participate, there is also a competitive element to the programme as follows:

Competition Categories

Transition Year (TY), LCVP, Youthreach and Leaving Certificate students can enter the Senior category of the SEP competiton.

Second Year and Third Year students can enter the Intermediate category of the SEP competition.

First Year students can enter the Junior category of the SEP competition.

Please note, only students who have completed and returned the Photography Permission Form to the LEO Wexford office or the local SEP coordinator in February may compete in the County Judging and National Finals of the competition.

How are the mini-companies judged?

Each mini-company must write a six-page business report (Senior) or produce an A1-size business poster (Junior & Intermediate) and answer questions about their business during a short interview as part of the competition. To see how the mini-companies taking part in the Student Enterprise competiton are judged at all stages, please see the marking scheme which judges use to guide their assessment of each enterprise.

Competition Format:

- School Final

Mini-companies from each category within each school first compete against each other. Each school must hold its School Final by the end of January. The handful of School Winners from each school then compile their final report/poster and submit it to the County compettion via the SEP coordinator before the February mid-term break.

- County Judging

During the County Judging, the 'School Winners' from each school compete against groups from other schools in Wexford who are in the same category (Junior, Intermediate, or Senior) as them. This stage of the competition is judged by representatives from the local business community. 

The results of this County Judging are announced at an in-person or online awards night called the 'Wexford Student Enterprise Programme Awards'.

At the Awards, a County Winner in each of the three categories (Senior, Intermediate and Junior) will be chosen to represent Wexford Local Enterprise Office at the National Final of the Student Enterprise Programme.

Environment Awards, Social Impact Awards, Merit Awards and other awards for Best Business Report, and Best Interview are also presented at the Wexford Student Enterprise Awards.

- National Final

The three County Winners from each category (Senior, Intermediate and Junior) go on to compete in the National Final which takes place either in-person or online (depending on guidelines) in May.

Optional Competitions

For those students who are already taking part in the main Student Enterprise Programme competiton, there are two new optional competitons that they can enter as individuals.

> For Junior and Interemediate category students, there is also the 'My Entrepreneurial Journey' poster and short essay competition:

Individual 1st to 3rd year students make a separate poster (A3 size this time) and write a short essay (max 500 words) about a hypothetical business they may run in the future. They must also interview a real-life local entrepreneur for this competition and write a one page summary of the interview. Find out more about this competition here.

Further details and entry forms for either of the above, optional, competitions are available form your Wexford SEP coordinator.