PUPILS and staff at a Stourbridge secondary school are celebrating after making it through to the final of a national competition.

A group of Year 9 students from Pedmore Technology College recently took part in the regional semi-final of the ‘Big Idea’ competition, with the successful youngsters now heading off to the national showcase in London.

The pupils spent the past eight months working with 'Solutions for the Planet' where they were tasked with devising resolutions to the big issues from around the world.

During the project, mentors from international organisations Brammer and Tarmac, which has links with the competition, have come into the school every week to help the students develop their business plans and solutions.

Recently, three teams from the school set off for the semi-finals of the competition at the University of Wolverhampton and battled it out against nine other teams competing for a chance to win a place at the finals, which are being held at the Palace of Westminster on the Tuesday (July 12).

Lorraine Turner, of Pedmore Technology College, said: “We are delighted to announce PTC had outstanding success at the Big Ideas semi-final at the University of Wolverhampton.

“Due to sheer hard work and dedication, Reece Faulker was awarded an impressive first place and his place at the Westminster final and Shahban Ali Ahmed achieved third place.

“Whilst our other team made up of Jordan Leighton and Thomas Bradley weren’t successful, they were recognised highly by the judges and host for asking poignant questions towards the opposing teams, and have subsequently been invited to support Reece at the Westminster final.”

Brammer’s Douglas Brown, who has worked with the team throughout the project and supported them at the Wolverhampton semi-final, told the teams: “You all did superbly. Your confidence on stage along with your passion about your solutions was fantastic to see.

“It was evident that you had all put in hard work to impress the judges.”