About the team & family behind Kay’s Flower School

Where it all began

The brain child of Top Irish Florist Kay O Rourke of Kays Florist in Rialto began back in May 1987. The problem of recruiting staff proved to be a challenging task, prompting Kay to initially start a small-scale florist training to attract more individuals to the Flower Industry.

Named at the time as Kay’s School of Floristry the school grew & expanded rapidly and gained a reputation as the premier destination for aspiring florists aiming to establish themselves within the industry.

Janette, Kay’s daughter quickly joined rank and Kays Florist was sold and they both wholeheartedly dedicated themselves to developing an internationally recognised award-winning Flower School.

In 2008 Deirdre (another daughter) who was working in adult education, joined the Kays Team full-time. Deirdre brought a fresh element and went about rebranding and renaming the flower school.

Kay retired in 2010 leaving Janette and Deirdre to continue her legacy, but she is never too far away when they need extra help of support.

2020 like many business around the world brought much change and for Kay’s Flower School that change saw the school move from 100% classroom based to 100% Virtual Online training.

Throughout this process Janette was adamant that those attending the online flower course would feel like they were on a classroom based, hands-on flower course but from the comfort of their own home from anywhere in the world.

Janette always goes above and beyond to ensure every student attending gets all the support they need during their program. Everyone can work at their own pace, around their own lifestyle, in their own time-zone, but still feel part of the classroom & community.

Meet Janette

Known as one of the most dynamic floristry trainers in the world, especially for her “no bullshit” approach and her passion for helping and supporting trainees.

Janette knows the questions you are going to ask before you even think about them, and whilst recording the online tutorials for Kays Flower School, it was these years of experience that ensured she covered every angle whilst developing the courses.

With over 36 yrs experience training in floristry and 40+ years working with flowers and florists, she believes, you never know it all, and they day you think you do is the day to give it up.

Janette’s absolute gold moments are when she sees how proud and excited her students when they have completed their designs as a result of training with her.

Meet Deirdre

Joining the team in 2008, Deirdre is the tech behind the camera. Deirdre is responsible for the content creation, videos, editing photos etc

Having never trained in Marketing, Deirdre has a passion for getting business exposed, and is always on hand to support all the trainee florists with their own social media and basic marketing plans.

Growing up in a flower shop, Deirdre is a fabulous florist, but the business of flowers is more her passion and this is what comes across to all our graduates.

Meet Sinéad

The baby sister of the three, Sinead joined the Kays Flower School Team in 2020. Working virtually from her home in Inverness in Scotland, Sinead is the go-to person when students are signing into their online floristry programs.

Although Sinead grew up in the flower shop with us all, it was the plants and clay that was the draw for Sinead. Leaving school Sinead qualified in horticulture and traveled the world working in garden centres, and it was when working in a Garden Centre in Inverness she met her Scottish husband and settled in the highlands.

Sinead is our go to expert when students have foliage or plant questions and advice.

Meet Mrs Kay - aka Catherine

When Catherine opened Kays Florist in 1983 she named it after her Dad’ pet name for her KayKay. Little did she know all them years ago his pet name would become synposis within the flower industry as the most commercial place to train as a florist.

Married to John (aka Mr Kay) along with their 3 daughters Janette, Deirdre & Sinéad, she instilled the values of giving value, give support, don’t hold back, help lift others higher than you, because they will always be there to pull you up if you need it. This was the grounds Kays Flower School started and this is still the values of today.

Kay is so proud of what her daughters have done to the business and knows any florist who trains at Kays Flower School are getting the best training ever.

Meet Mr Kay, aka John

The backbone of the family and an essential part we just could not manage without here at Kays Flower School. John drove trucks all his life but was always on hand for any heavy lifting and pulling and in the flower industry, there can be a lot of lifting & pulling. When it comes to washing buckets and conditioning flowers Mr Kay is so efficient and fast and believe it or not, absolutely loves that part of the job.

Of recent times Mr Kay has become an internet sensation doing his conditioning videos, if you need a laugh, go check him out here.

At Kays Flower School we are passionate about your journey with us

We want to bring you on a flowery journey that will fulfil your dreams. We want you to reach your full potential and if opening a flower shop is your goal, that becomes our goal for you too.

Everyone has to start somewhere, and if your ambition is working commercially with flowers then you have landed in the right place.

We believe that by choosing to train as a florist at Kays Flower School, that you will learn all aspects of the industry,

We will teach you from the ground up, from how to wash a bucket to how to create huge floral installation.

You will learn the good the bad and the ugly of the business.

Floristry is a tough job but one of the most rewarding too as 90% of the time, your finished design is going to bringing a smile to someone’s face. Be it the smallest budget bunch of flowers to the most elaborate wedding bouquet or even a funeral tribute for a loved one, you deliver smiles.

As a trainee you are our number one priority here at Kay’s Flower School. Your success, be it small goals or large goals is what drives us every day.

We aim to support you every step of the way on every module so when you finish training with us, you are competent and confident and ready to work in the industry (if that is what you want to do).

It is our years of experience in training florists that brings learners from all over the world choosing to join us on our Online Floral Design Programs to start or continue their floristry journey or skills.

Our sayings here at Kay’s Flower School is “there is no such thing as a stupid question, unless you already know the answer already”

So start today and let us support and train you on your flowery journey and know you will know that you have chosen the best education there is when starting out in the flower industry

Email Here for more Information.