Castle School pupils wow Coco-Cola executives at business competition (From Gazette Series)

Castle School pupils in Thornbury wow Coco-Cola executives at business competition

8:50am Sunday 24th February 2013 in News By Marion Sauvebois

FORWARD-thinking pupils in Thornbury put their heads together to show Coca-Cola executives what they were capable of.

Year 10 business students Arthur Severinson, James Palmer, Harry Woolf, Corey Blatchford, Dan Worseley and Luke Jackson’s innovative ideas and sharp delivery allowed them to get through to the regional final of The Real Business Challenge, a competition run by drinks multinational Coca Cola.

The event held on February 14, saw the dream team come head to head with six other South West schools at Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol.

As part of the nerve-wracking challenge, pupils were tasked with developing a campaign to raise awareness and support for Special Olympics Great Britain’s National Games, due to be in Bath in August.

With the help Coca-Cola business mentors, the students had less than five hours to design and produce a radio advert and cobble together a budget summary.

The groups then pitched their campaigns to a judging panel made up of business professionals, including the Special Olympics coordinator and Coca-Cola's senior field sales manager. Although they did not qualify for the national finals, the pupils thoroughly impressed their judges.

Tess Wilkinson, Castle School business coordinator, said: "Despite an excellent campaign, the group did not make it to the final. However they did remarkably well to be picked as one of the seven winning South West schools in the first place, and their presentation was extremely professional and well delivered.

"Both Mrs Doman and Mrs Bowers are very proud of what they achieved and for representing the school so well."