A TEAM of children from a Hexham school has bounced into the runners-up spot in a region-wide competition.

The youngsters from Hexham Middle School competed against schools from right across the North-East in Newcastle Building Society’s fourth annual Boardroom Charity Challenge, which asked its nine and ten year-old participants to develop business ideas that focus on benefiting their local community while also making a profit.

The five-strong team won their way into the competition’s final with their idea for a sponsored spacehopper race around their school’s athletics track, with the money they would raise by staging the event going to the Corbridge Youth Initiative, which aims to give local young people somewhere to go and something to do in a friendly, fun and safe environment.

And their presentation in the Newcastle’s boardroom so impressed the panel of senior business figures in front of whom they spoke at the final that the team was named as runners-up for the whole competition.

The Boardroom Charity Challenge is a continuation of an ongoing financial education programme developed by the Newcastle which, over the last five years, has helped more than 1,500 children in schools across its heartland area learn more about managing money and becoming more financially independent.

It forms part of a six-week long curriculum-based learning package that teaches core numeracy and literacy skills, and is an extension of the society’s wider ‘Cornerstone of the Community’ campaign through which individual branches provide direct support to organisations and good causes in their local areas.

Head of year five at Hexham Middle School, Fiona Cave, who led the team’s participation in the competition, said: “The team thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the Challenge. Their work was a real credit to the school, and they weren’t fazed at all by taking the stage in the final and presenting to the judging panel.

“Everyone was really proud and excited to finish as runners-up in the whole competition, and they couldn’t wait to get back to school to tell all their friends and teachers how well they’d done.”

Head of corporate social responsibility at Newcastle Building Society, Natalie Falkous, added: “The standard of our Boardroom Charity Challenge finalists was quite amazing, and a huge amount of thought, research and creativity has clearly gone into every team’s entry.

“The Hexham team gave a brilliant presentation and the judges were extremely impressed with their fund-raising ideas.”