Student app idea wins business competition

Year eight students won £500 prize money in a business competition by designing an interactive school-related app.
Businessman John Harris with competition winners Drew Bevan, Ellie Lossing-Smith and Grace NoakesBusinessman John Harris with competition winners Drew Bevan, Ellie Lossing-Smith and Grace Noakes
Businessman John Harris with competition winners Drew Bevan, Ellie Lossing-Smith and Grace Noakes

The competition, which took place at Durrington High School, was supported by businessman John Harris who provided a trophy and the prize money for the winners to implement their business plan.

The students were given the opportunity to design or create a business idea, to help them develop an understanding of how to run a business effectively.

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Sue Marooney, head teacher, said: “It gave students an insight into how difficult it can be to come up with a unique selling point, identifying a gap in the market and creating a product or service which potential customers would be interested in buying.”

Sue had the help of Chloe Wheal, director of business, ICT and computing, to assess the entries and shortlist groups to go through to the final.

Chloe said: “Teams across the year group entered the competition and the entries were very impressive in terms of quality and variety.”

The winning group consisted of students Drew Bevan, Ellie Lossing-Smith and Grace Noakes.

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The team’s business plan was to create an app for students in school so that they are able to view their homework tasks, a map of the school and the rewards system easily on mobile devices.

They have been working with School Apps Ltd to get the app designed and developed using the prize money, and it was launched on March 26.

Winners Drew, Ellie and Grace said: “We took part because we wanted to get involved in the wider school community by creating a product or concept that students would find useful.

“We are really pleased we won because it means we can have our idea made for students in order to aid them day to day around school.”

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Ian Yardley, managing director of School Apps Ltd, was especially pleased with the idea of bringing an interactive school map onto the app.

The feature will be particularly useful for new year seven students, who will be able to view the map via a link from their online timetable in the app.

There are many features on the app for parents and carers, students and staff and it is hoped that it will work alongside the current in school system.