Where it all started

September 1, 2022 Lucy O'Reilly

Kay’s School of Floristry was established in May 1987 by Kay O’Rourke who had been running the highly successful Kay’s Florist in Rialto, Dublin 8. Kay found it increasingly difficult to employ commercially trained florists at the time and being too busy in the shop to train them, Kay’s School of Floristry was established upstairs over Kay’s Florist on the South Circular Road in Rialto.

Initially Kay started out delivering courses on Sundays and in the evening times when the flower shop was closed but as her reputation grew, so did the demand for more course.

In 1989 Kay sold Kay’s Florist and along with her daughter Janette, who had already established her name as one of Ireland’s top florists and had travelled all over the UK , Holland and even Israel learning new techniques & skills.

Kay’s School of Floristry became the only full time Flower School in Ireland dedicated to training florists nationwide. For the next 20 years both Kay & Janette trained florists and their staff and built up a reputation for delivering commercial, professional training, showing their students all the trade secrets and professional tips and providing exceptional value for money. As Kay’s School of Floristry was not connected to any flower shop or flower wholesaler, they could be open & honest to their students when offering advice and recommending the best and cheapest suppliers to suit their needs.

In 2010 Kay decided it was time to retire. Thankfully her other daughter Deirdre who also trained as a florist in the family business but ventured into the beauty industry by running her own beauty salon for 10 years was now working in Adult Education Sector and was at the top of her field in training & education, returned back to her roots, bring a new dimension to Kay’s School of Floristry.

In 2012 and to coincide with the fast developing digital era, Deirdre who had also trained in social media and digital studies, decided with Janette that Kay’s Flower School would be re-branded and re-launched and establish their social media presence. They even developed Kay’s Online Training platform which they are adding to as much as they can.

In October 2015 Deirdre unfortunately was diagnosed with Breast cancer and had to take a step back, but thankfully Kay was ready and willing to come out of retirement and step back into the School. Like a duck to water it was like she never had left. Deirdre still came into the school during treatment; she says it’s what got her through a horrible time for her. In August 2016 Deirdre Finished her treatment and Kay was only too happy to retire again, in saying that she is always on call and comes in whenever we need her. Deirdre says that they could not manage the school without the help of their Mum Kay and Dad John.

Moving onto the Pandemic of 2020

Like everyone the Covid 19 Pandemic had a huge effect of how we could run our business and we delivered our last Classroom Based Course in April of that year. Like everyone we stayed at home to stay safe but all the time thinking "we have no business, when will we be able to deliver training again?"

Deirdre convinced Janette we could deliver the training online, she was convinced it would work, but Janette was sceptical bit said, "lets try it out." Deirdre enrolled on courses to learn about editing and recording, the school building was empty as all the business using it were closed, and as Deirdre & Janette were sisters and were both caring for their parents, they decided to come into work and start recording.

Hours and Hours each day was spent recording the classes exactly how we would have thought our classroom based classes, but from different angles etc. We soon realised being an online class we could actually show more and teach more as time was not a restrain. So when we finished recording the Module 1 program, what was a 4 day course was transformed into a four week course due to all the extra content.

We became packers and labellers when we started to put together the sundry kits to be sent out with each module. Then it was the logistics of the flowers, when students came to train with us we supplied all the flowers, now we had to organise to send all the flowers out to them. We worked closely with our Dutch suppliers and transport company and were able to arrange this, which was the making of our online programs.

The first online program launched on 29th May 2022 and we enrolled 5 past students who had completed classroom based courses to feedback and compare the training to their training. The past students said they learnt so much more from the online program, the new students produced designs far ahead of anything that was produced in the classroom based programs. Thankfully this has been the result and feedback all along and our Online Virtual Training of Florists has now expanded across the seas to as far a New Zealand, Canada and America.

As look forward to 2023 we plan to add more courses and content to our Professional Programs and give the best training in the world to our Students so that they are ready to go out there and become the best florist, floral designer and flower arranger they can. This is what makes us prod and happy when we see our florists achieving amazing things in the flower world.

Kay’s Flower School is now recognised nationally & internationally as the leading commercial flower school and is very proud after all these years that 80% of the flower shops in Ireland have either trained with them, have sent their staff to train with them or have taken students from Kay’s School to work in their flower shop. Our International students are advocating and spreading the word about where they trained and we can see our growth in so many countries now.

Janette mentions how very proud they are when they see another one of their past students nominated for Florist of the Year Awards, Wedding Florist Awards, and National Florist Awards. It is like one of our kids winning a race... you get that warm fuzzy feeling ... their mine

“We are constantly reviewing our course syllabus and updating our techniques to keep on trend with what is happening in the flower world” mentions Deirdre, “but the fundamentals never change. We feel if students learn the basics, establish their foundation skills they can adapt these skills to create any floral design that comes on trend. That is the core of our training and why so many of our students are now running amazing successful flower shops and wedding stylist businesses.”

Corporate Flowery Events are now very popular for Kay’s Flower School with Companies booking Janette & Deirdre to entertain their clients making Flower Crowns, Flowery Cocktails, and Flowery Cupcakes etc.

FlowerCourses at Kay’s Flower School are ongoing throughout the year and the Course Calendar on their website is updated regularly. Some of the courses are eligible for funding through the Department of Social Protection and also Skillnets.

Full details of all the Courses and Classes can be found at www.flowerschoolireland.com, by emailing info@flowerschoolireland.com or by phoning the school on 01 453 86 49.

In January 2019 Janette & Deirdre were awarded Small Business of the Year by the Women in Business Awards. Having been in business for over 30 years and trained some of the top award winning florists in the country, Janette said words cannot not explain how honored they were to receive this award &Deirdre mentioned that it was amazing to receive the recognition of many years of hard work.