SEVEN teenagers have been told "You're hired" after taking part in an Apprentice-style challenge.

Pupils at Bucknall's Mitchell Business and Enterprise College have spent the last nine months completing a series of inventive tasks.

And now the 15 and 16-year-old winners are set to take up paid summer jobs with local firms after sitting their GCSEs this month.

The 'Step-Up' challenge, created by Waterworld owner Mo Chaudry and teachers at Mitchell, was officially launched at the school in October.

The winners were announced during a presentation at Stoke-on-Trent's Moat House Hotel last night.

Becky Lawrence, aged 16, from Bucknall, said she was "over the moon" to have landed a summer job at the Moat House.

She said: "I can't wait to start. It's exactly what I wanted to do when I left school. It has been great taking part in the Step-Up challenge and now I'm really ready to put what I've learnt to the test."

Rhianna Peverill, aged 16, from Abbey Hulton, will be working at Waterworld throughout the summer.

She said: "The Step-Up challenge has taught me a lot which hopefully I can put to good use working at Waterworld.

"I learnt how to make a good first impression and how to improve my communication skills which will benefit me."

During the challenge, pupils were assigned mentors to help steer them through the cutthroat world of business and inspire them to follow their career dreams.

Mentors included Kevin Oakes, chief executive of pottery firm Steelite International, entrepreneur Mo Iqbal who runs Longton-based Tile Giant, James Rushton, a partner at Festival Park-based accountants Baker Tilly, and Danny Flynn, chief executive of the YMCA in Hanley.

The teenagers' tasks included fund-raising activities in aid of the Donna Louise Children's Hospice Trust and the Douglas Macmillan Hospice.

Pupils also had to come up with a business plan for a potential family day at the Steelite factory in Middleport.

Mr Chaudry told The Sentinel that all the pupils who took part in the competition were winners.

And he added that even those who didn't gain summer jobs should use the experience as an inspiration to improve themselves.

He said: "The aim of this project was to change the attitude of youngsters from negative to positive.

"If you inspire young people to look up then the whole world can change.

"It is about attitudes. These young people here today are thinking in a different way to nine months ago."

Julia Ledingham, enterprise co-ordinator at Mitchell, said teachers and mentors had been very impressed with how the pupils had handled the challenge.

She said: "All of the students involved worked very hard on this project.

"It wasn't easy. They had to push themselves and come out of their comfort zone but thanks to the help from their mentors they've had a fantastic experience.

"The project has shown that education does not only belong in the classroom.

"It is about giving the youth of today something to aspire to rather than just the hum-drum of school."

Related links:

Pupils step up for cultural challenge

Summer jobs lure as pupils step up