TALENTED students from Crediton’s Queen Elizabeth’s School have shown they have what it takes to be business leaders of the next generation, after being crowned champions of a national business and accounting competition.

The competition, called BASE, was created by accountancy body ICAEW to give school and college students aged 16-17 years an insight into what working in business and accounting is like and help them develop key employability skills.

The BASE National Final took place in Birmingham, where students from around the UK were challenged to create a sustainable business strategy for a charity and then present it in front of a panel of judges including business professionals from companies such as Rolls Royce, PwC and EY, and charities such as WaterAid, Amnesty International and Cancer Research UK.

Queen Elizabeth’s School created a business strategy which impressed the judges and resulted in them being crowned BASE 2019 National Champions ahead of 47 other teams.

Carole McIlroy, the winning team’s teacher, said: “We’re overwhelmed to have won. This is an amazing achievement for our school because we’re a very rural school in mid-Devon and we certainly didn’t expect to go so far in the competition.

"Our school has entered the competition every year since it began 10 years ago but this is the first time we’ve got to the national final, so it feels amazing that we’ve won.”

Sharon Spice, ICAEW Director of Global Student Recruitment, said: “Our judges are not only looking for academic ability, but also the soft skills required in all workplaces.

“All the students in the final proved they had those skills, including the ability to communicate well, solve problems and demonstrate resilience under pressure.

“Queen Elizabeth’s School shone through for their impressive ideas and initiative however, even among a very talented group of students.”

Naima Siddiqi, Director of Finance and Resources at Friends of the Earth and guest speaker at the final said: “I was very impressed by all the presentations given today and all students showed themselves to be highly talented individuals.

“I was particularly impressed by Queen Elizabeth’s School, congratulations to them for winning.

“Qualifying as a chartered accountant gave me the chance to have a fulfilling career in business and wider society, and I think that the students have shown they have the qualities to do the same.”

BASE began with an online challenge, with nearly 5,000 business-savvy students taking part in teams from schools and FE colleges across the UK.

The competition was designed to test students on skills such as communication, organisation and commercial awareness, which will be especially useful for those who wish to go on to a career in business in the future. The 48 teams who achieved the best scores were then invited to the national final.

While at the event the students were also given the opportunity to meet with a number of employers who gave them advice on how to progress into successful careers, including: BDO, KPMG, EY, Mazars, PwC, The National Audit Office, RSM, Saffery Champness, and Smith and Williamson.