SCHOOL pupils learned new skills after developing digital marketing strategies and pitching them to a housebuilder.

The year nine and 10 students at Darlington’s Longfield Academy were tasked with encouraging visitors to the new nature trail at Keepmoat Homes’ Central Park development of 360 properties, also in Darlington.

Working in teams, the pupils developed their ideas under the scrutiny of Mark Blacklee and Jonathan Cook, the managing director and technical director respectively of Darlington-based Curo Marketing, which develops websites and e-commerce platforms for clients such as clothes shops and architects.

They were joined on the final judging panel by Keepmoat’s community engagement and investment manager Geoff Scott and assistant site manager Karl Henderson, who developed the nature trail in partnership with IT students at Darlington College.

The project ran under the banner of Foundation for Jobs, which aims to inspire young people’s interest in the sectors that are set to create the most jobs in Darlington and the Tees Valley over the coming years by linking education with industry.

The nature trail, which will be more than a mile long when completed, will use 11 podiums with QR codes to direct users on smartphones to a website highlighting information about birds, bats or flora found in that location.

Mr Henderson said: “The children don’t need to stop playing on their phones and before they know it they’ll have spent an hour or so walking the trail, being educated in a subtle manner and enjoying a walk they might never have had.”

The national award-winning Foundation for Jobs is led by Darlington Borough Council and supported by the Darlington Partnership of private firms and public sector organisations, including The Northern Echo. It has worked with more than 7,000 young people since it was launched in January 2012.