Swansea pupils sell bath bombs at bustling school enterprise market

Bath bombs were one of the handmade products pulling shoppers into Oxford Street as hundreds of pupils turned Swansea city centre into a busy open-air market on June 19. Stalls lined the stretch between Y Storfa and Portland Street, with buyers moving from table to table and many leaving with bargains after a day of strong footfall.

Around 50 primary, secondary and further education settings took part in the Swansea Schools Enterprise Challenge 2026, and the range of stock was broad enough to make any craft seller nod in recognition. Alongside bath bombs, pupils sold painted pebbles, decorated eggs, scrunchies, wax melts, canvases, cards, photo frames, stress balls and surprise bags. The street was dressed with colour and bunting, and the pitch was simple: make something yourself, price it, present it well and see whether it sells.

The market ran from 9am to 2pm, giving pupils a short, high-pressure trading window that mirrored the basics of a real craft fair. Swansea Council said the event created a lively marketplace in the city centre and that teachers benefited from professional development linked to the project. For young makers, that meant more than arranging a tidy table. It meant learning how to handle money, talk to customers and make a product stand out in the split-second glance that decides whether someone keeps walking or stops to buy.

Alison Williams of Craigfelen Primary School led the programme with Swansea Council’s Careers and Work Related Experience team. Williams, who has been headteacher at Craigfelen Primary School for 11 years and has been awarded an MBE for services to education and the community, has helped steer a challenge designed to give children practical business experience rather than just classroom theory. Swansea Council said businesses involved through the Swansea Pledge provided workshops, mentoring and hands-on experiences before market day.

Young Dragons, which runs the Primary Enterprise Challenge in partnership with Craigfelen Primary School and with support from Welsh Government and Swansea Council, says the project is built to develop creativity, teamwork, problem-solving and financial literacy. It says the Market Selling Day gives pupils a real-world setting to sell directly to the public and handle money. Young Dragons says the Swansea Primary Enterprise Challenge has been running for more than 15 years, and typically involves about 40 primary schools and around 1,200 primary pupils. The bath bombs on Oxford Street fitted that model neatly: colourful, giftable and easy to price, they looked made for a table where first-time sellers had to win attention fast.