Westborough win business challenge

The five won the Innov8 competition held at Kirklees College, beating eight rival schools to successfully complete tasks themed around enterprise.

The champions were Firdaus Suleman, Aliyah Naveed, Muhammed Patel, Aboo Bakr Abid and Zain Yasin, while the Heckmondwike Grammar School team of Atiya Aswat, Naadiya Mayer, Ameera Nawaz, Halimah Hussain and Ayesha Patel came third.

Mirfield Free Grammar and Castle Hall Academy in Mirfield also entered teams, as well as schools from Huddersfield and Sowerby Bridge.

The event was led by staff from the college’s Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, which is run by the Peter Jones Foundation charity and supported by the Dragons’ Den star, one of Britain’s most successful businessmen. It offers courses in entrepreneurship.

The Innov8 challenge was one of several taster sessions organised by the college’s recruitment team over the past few weeks to give prospective students the chance to experience and find out more about post-16 courses that interest them.

The competition aimed to identify the most innovative and enterprising pupils by challenging them to use their ideas, imagination, passion and determination to solve problems together.

Kirklees College business enterprise manager Lydia Butterworth, who runs the academy, said: “The aim of the competition was to encourage teams of enthusiastic young entrepreneurs to work cohesively with each other in taking on a variety of challenges, themed around enterprise and innovation.

“This year the competition was fiercer than ever. We like to thank the pupils for their creativity and enthusiasm on the day.

“It was great fun and they were a credit to their schools.”