Three National Star students won work experience placements at St. James’s Place after wowing judges in a schools innovation challenge.

The competition was organised by St. James’s Place Wealth Management at their headquarters in Cirencester in partnership with GFirst LEP.

The challenge was to pitch an idea on the subject of ‘What does the office of the future need to look like to make work accessible for all?’.

During the innovation challenge, students were assigned a business mentor to assist them on the different stages of the competition.

Ed Scipio, 20, Holly Holmes, 20, and Ted Barnard-Edwards, 19, impressed the judges with their idea of using virtual reality headsets to make offices more accessible.

Holly, who led the presentation, said: “I have got very bad stage fright even just on the telephone or speaking to someone that I don’t know but I kept on telling myself that my voice can project to the back of the room and, not to be modest, I’m very good at explaining.

“After the team wrote the pitching presentation I thought that I could put a bit of humour in it to get the judges to interact, which really worked.

“I learnt that if I put my mind to it I can really explain an idea clearly and persuade people of my ideas.”

Vicki Foster, head of inclusion and diversity at St. James’s Place, and one of the judges, said: “This competition has been an excellent opportunity for St. James’s Place to foster the innovative instincts amongst these bright and enthusiastic students.

“Working with GFirst LEP to select SEND schools means we can offer opportunities like this to students who may not have received them before.”