Equity School Partnership Network Program – Watthayang School Trip

On November 10th the Bangkok Prep – Nakhon Si Thammarat Equity Team: Minnie, Sarocha, Zara, Zac, Anthony, Dean and Taas, along with Ms. Arora, set off to the southern part of Thailand to visit Watthayang School to collaborate on developing our product for the ‘Equity Partnership’s School Network’ competition.

On arrival at the school we were greeted with a warm welcome, and introduced to the team from the Watthayang School. We were supported by many members of the EEF (Equitable Education Fund) team and JD Central who advised and guided us on the process of developing a new product. The first session of the day was dedicated to familiarising ourselves with the available resources that we could implement to create our final product. This included making Batik designs on various forms of fabric. Each of us were given the opportunity to use melted wax to create Batik design on a piece of fabric. This was the first step to creating the product. Once we had our design completed on the fabric, we were then able to use watercolours to paint on the outlined fabric.

In the afternoon, we discussed the range of product types to design the Batik fabric on, which could be introduced to the market and would become appreciated very quickly. After careful analysis of the market preference, several ideas were proposed such as scarves, blankets and table cloths, but then we realised that these items were much too common and are already very popular in the market. We reflected on the aim of this project, which is to create a product that would attract the customers of JD Central and that are looking for something that is profitable and extraordinary. In the end, the finalised idea was to create a Batik design beach wear with a matching headband. Following this, we also had to finalise the patterns, sizing and brand name for the beach wear. We were able to agree on the sizing and the pattern would be finalised after conducting primary research from our target audience.

The Bangkok Prep team was amazed at how young and skilful the Wathayang team members were. They efficiently outlined the design with melted wax, and more importantly, blended the watercolours magically that left us awestruck. We are very honoured and humbled to be given the opportunity to not only work with skilled artists, but also lead and run the project. Due to time constraints, we were unable to finalise the details, however we will continue working on the project virtually until we meet again in December. We have divided the responsibilities and Bangkok Prep team will use the produced sample from this session to carry out primary market research in order to understand the preferences of the target market before finalising on more details.

The ‘Bangkok Prep-Watthayang’ School team look forward to bringing our exotic beachwear to you in the near future. All proceeds will be given to the Thai Schools. We hope to receive your support in our efforts to enrich the lives of these amazing pupils.

Report: Minnie and Taas – Year 11

Project leader: Miss Arora