BUSINESS-SAVVY students from Peebles High School have beaten off competition from eight other local teams to win a top competition.

More than 50 children from seven schools took part and Peebles scooped the Edinburgh heat of ICAEW’s (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) national business and accounting competition, BASE, at the event at Murrayfield Stadium last Tuesday.

The school will now go on to represent Edinburgh at the national final, which takes place in Birmingham in June.

Proud Business Studies teacher Ken Walker told the Peeblesshire News: “We are delighted for the students, they have all done really well.
“They are all senior school students studying higher or advanced higher business studies.

“At the event they were given a challenge. They had to read through some information about a business with a problem and had to say what advice they would offer.

“They then had to get up and do a four-minute presentation and they did really well.

“It was a good day out overall. Being up on stage it can be hard to gage how you are doing because you’re so focussed, but they had good presentation skills and I knew they had a really strong business case and strategy.

“We will go to Birmingham feeling optimistic and with a good chance.”
Keith Proudfoot, Regional Director, Northern & Scotland added: “I was really impressed with Peebles High School’s performance and strategic thinking.

“These budding business advisers looked beyond the numbers and they also showed they had an excellent instinct for business and ethics in order to give advice.

“Congratulations to all the teams who took part. I expect I’ll be seeing more of these young people in leading business roles in the future,” he added.

“Students should not lose sight of the importance of developing skills and experience, alongside their academic achievements.

“It is vital that students are given opportunities to develop these softer skills outside of the classroom.”