ISAMBARD Community School’s aspiring stock traders have traded their way to the top of a national competition and come away with a fourth place title – and a personal invitation from a BBC TV presenter.

The “No Money Men” team, made up of Jess West, Sofia Bulut, Tommy Slade and Kieran Baily, managed to secure a place in the final of the nationwide contest the ifs Student Investor Challenge after outperforming 10,000 other teams and the stock market.

To reach their place in the final they negotiated a series of tough financial challenges, having profitably invested two virtual portfolios of £100,000 over a three-month period, before successfully predicting the rise and fall of various assets and equities at the semi-final stage.

The ifs Student Investor Challenge, run by financial education charity ifs University College, is the UK’s largest investment competition for schools in the UK.

Free to enter, the competition encourages students to develop important life and employability skills such as developing their confidence in researching, presenting, writing and team-working, through learning about savings, investments and other crucial financial concepts.

The school had entered two teams into the contest with No Money Men earning a virtual £11,000 in their first three months of online trading while the Burtons Brothers team also secured a place in the semi-final having made a virtual £9,000.

On Wednesday they battled it out against seven other teams for the chance to win a trip to New York and £2,000 for their school - finally securing fourth place, with business studies teacher Kathy Balebela and lead teacher for ICT and media studies Darren Beecher watching on proudly.

At the end of a full-on and very challenging day, the team was presented with a special prize from BBC Breakfast's Steph McGovern - an invitation for a private tour of the studios at Media city in Manchester before taking their seats in the audience for her show.

Miss Balebela said: “The students are extremely happy with this and thrilled that they were recognised for their great presentation.

“Steph praised them for how well they engaged with the audience as well as admiring their creative use of different medias in an honest and open account which documented their journey through the competition. They were also the youngest team there.

“Mr Beecher and I are so proud of our brilliant students who were great Isambard ambassadors. This is a wonderful prize for them and a fitting reward for their hard work and dedication.”