A TEAM of talented young entrepreneurs from Tavistock College have been crowned Tycoon in Schools champions at Buckingham Palace after winning a national competition spearheaded by Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones.

Tyre Fires of Tavistock — the team of Tavistock College sixth form students, Ellesse Blackmore, Phoebe Sanders, Sophie Horn, Lauren Abel, Lauren Crick, Alice Kodritsch and Patrick Ahern (all aged 16) — were presented with a £1,000 cheque by Peter Jones and HRH The Duke of York at a ceremony in the palace on Monday.

Not only did the students win in the Key Stage 5 category, they were also crowned overall champions.

Tycoon in Schools is a national enterprise competition, which challenges youngsters to set up their own businesses and raise as much profit as possible during a seven-week trading period.

They impressed the Dragons’ Den star, selling a range of fire pits made from recycled wheel rims.

Mr Jones said: ‘The pupils behind Tyre Fires of Tavistock took on a very ambitious project and executed their plan brilliantly. Their product is exciting, they clearly have excellent negotiation skills and they’ve made a good profit.

‘This has been our most successful year to date, with over 2,000 students talking part, which makes the winners’ achievements even more special.’

Having come up with the idea in a blue-sky thinking session the seven enterprising pupils raised £1,327.56 during the trading period.

They were keen, however, to use some of this profit to provide support for a fellow student during a time of difficulty and donated £400.

Tavistock Tyre Fires sourced materials from a local scrap yard, negotiating a reduced price, and then manufactured the products themselves, before carrying out scrupulous quality checks.

To produce the fire pits they welded two tyre rims together and cut a hole for the door using an angle grinder.

They marketed the business using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, they also sold their products at various local events, including the Tavistock College Christmas Fair and the 2015 Tavistock Dickensian Evening.

Team member Phoebe Sanders said: ‘I’m not really sure whether to scream or cry. It’s so overwhelming — it’s not sunk in yet. We’d like to congratulate every team that took part and thank the teachers that have helped us throughout. We really did not expect to be the overall winners.

‘During the competition, we’ve learnt that it’s really important to run a business as a team. Originally we did separate ourselves into roles but we felt it didn’t work. I think that might be down to the sort of business we had, but we worked as a board. We made group decisions and we made sure that we were the best we could be.’

Sarah Jones, principal of Tavistock College said: ‘I am delighted with this result and extremely proud of our students. They are hardworking, creative and caring students who have supported each other at every stage of the competition. The awards, both at KS5 and the overall category were well deserved.’

Of the seven other finalists invited to the palace, Teens 2 Go — classes enabling skilled teenagers to earn money by showing their expertise — launched by 14-year-old Zack Griffin from Eastwood High School in East Renfrewshire, won the highly commended award.

Tycoon in Schools is an annual competition that challenges youngsters to run their own real-life businesses using a loan of up to £1,000 provided by the Peter Jones Foundation.

Participants then raise as much profit as possible during a set trading period.

Once trading is over, teams submit detailed evaluation reports to Mr Jones, who picks the winners from each key stage category, as well as overall champion.

Mr Jones added: ‘Tycoon in Schools gives pupils the opportunity to experience the highs and lows of running a real business. As well as promoting skill essential to employers, such as confidence and resilience, it shows that self-employment is a viable and rewarding option. This sort of initiative is vital to the future of our economy.

‘Having reached approximately 320,000 students this year, the competition was very tough and I’m extremely proud of all our finalists.

‘We were very impressed with those taking part in our trial primary school competition and have therefore decided to roll it out across the country for Tycoon in Schools 2016.’

For more information about signing up for Tycoon in Schools 2016 visit http://www.tycoonin schools.com/registration-interest

As well as Tycoon in Schools, the Peter Jones Foundation runs the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, which delivers courses in enterprise and entrepreneurship at colleges across the country.