They say money doesn’t grow on trees, but at Ysgol Gymraeg y Fenni, school pupils have been "growing" pound coins.

Every pupil was given a pound as part of the Grow a Pound project and told they could use it however they wanted over the Easter holiday to make more money for their school.

From the £249 given out, pupils returned over a staggering £2,250. The fundraising exercise was organised by the school’s Cyfeillion (Parents and Teachers Association) and money making ideas included cake sales, planting seeds, car washing plus a lot of helping mum and dad!

Eirug Mathias said, “The Cyfeillion (PTA) is delighted with the response to our ‘Grow a Pound’ fundraiser. All the children that participated showed great inventiveness and determination to raise a great sum of money for the school. Well done to them all.”

The big money spinners were: Phoebe (nursery) who raised an amazing £239.50 by doing a sponsored swim; brothers Oscar (Yr 1) and Alfie (Yr 5) who raised £315 between them by growing plants and selling a donated bike; Myfi (nursery) who made £90 by baking and selling soda bread; Briannah-Grace (nursery) for raising £75 making and selling craft items as well as doing a sponsored bike ride and Dylan (Yr 3) who completed lots of sponsored situps and raised £54.

Vouchers were given to the six pupils who raised the most money in a special assembly and all children that took part received a certificate to mark their enterprising achievements.

Helping to give out the awards was parent Dr Eleri Rosier, Senior Lecturer at Cardiff Business School who said it was ‘fantastic to see the school encouraging entrepreneurial thinking from an early age, as the skills of entrepreneurship are also good life skills’.

“The grow a pound scheme has started to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in the kids and hopefully nurture the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs!”.

Head teacher Mrs April Wiggins said, " ‘Our pupils thought up some very innovative and creative ideas, which ranged from creating and selling leather purses, to having cake sales and buying soap and a sponge to wash cars. 

“The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and were inspired to by the competition to raise money towards school projects. 

“Pupils have learnt about making a profit in a fun and engaging way, with many showing a real talent for enterprise.’