TALENTED students from an enterprising school have won a top award with their invention of a board game for Durham.

Students from Ferryhill Business and Enterprise College were crowned champions of the Future Business Magnates (FBM) competition run by Business Durham.

The winners came up with a board game based in Durham called Fear the Wear.

FBEC headteacher Kevin Brennan said: “This has been one of the most important experiences for them in their educational career, it’s a credit to all the staff and students involved and we’re very proud of them. They’ve thrived working with their business mentors over the years and they couldn’t take part without their support.”

More than 30 businesses supported this year's competition, including Thorn Lighting, Dyer Engineering, Ebac, Hydram, Steelcraft, Atom Bank and Durham University.

Dr Gary Thompson, managing director of Jagdesign, based at NETPark, in Sedgefield, said it was great to give something back to Ferryhill – his former school.

“If we can encourage the business leaders of tomorrow and support them through their journey into the business community then we all succeed." He said.

"It was good to work with some very talented young adults as they learned about business. The FBM project is a prime example of how connecting with industry can be rewarding for all participants.”

The theme for this year’s competition was Connecting County Durham and over the last eight months, pupils aged 12 and 13 worked with their business mentor to turn their ideas into a service or product.

Sarah Slaven, Business Durham business development director, said: “Connections are really important in business and as the students have shown, connecting up ideas in different ways or applying them to different scenarios can lead to great inventions.

"The end results of our competition have been fantastic and the students have shown yet again, just how bright, talented and inventive they are.”

Simon Henig, leader of Durham County Council, added: “It is fantastic to see such innovation and imagination coming from the young people in our county. We are proud that here in Durham, schools from across the county are engaging with our business sector in this way and we are delighted that Business Durham is continuing to foster their enquiring minds as part of the Future Business Magnates competition.

“We hope that some of these young people will feel inspired to go onto careers in some of these industries and that we may well see them go on to even brighter futures here in the county with the companies they have been working with as part of this competition.”