YOUNGSTERS aged four to 18 have been learning how education is key to unlocking success in business.

The four academies of Bournemouth’s Avonbourne Trust – Avonwood Primary, Avonbourne College, Harewood College and Avonbourne Sixth Form – dedicated a week to linking core academic subjects to the business world.

As part of this the students were challenged to either make things to sell or come up with their own business plans.

The primary children at Avonwood spent all week making products while the senior students pitched business ideas linked to an academic subject to be in with a chance of winning £200.

Sixth formers supported their younger peers by acting as Dragon’s Den-style judges for their business pitches.

CEO of Avonbourne Trust, Debbie Godfrey-Phaure, said: "As a business and enterprise trust our schools are about preparing students for employment and bringing out the entrepreneur in them all.

"That ethos begins at the very start of our education and continues right until a student leaves us after sixth form.

“The whole experience was a fun way of linking core subjects like English, maths, science, history and the languages with the ‘real world’ and our students loved it."

At Avonwood the primary pupils made a wide range of products to sell, including candles holders and Christmas decorations.

At Harewood the boys spent all week developing their own social enterprise companies or products that could raise money for charity.

Their week culminated in a Dragon’s Den style pitch exercise and the winning team was a group of boys that devised a Harewood You Tube channel to provide science support to Year 7 and 8 students.

Second place went to a team that devised a new board game to teach foreign languages, in a fun way and called Monetpoly.

Meanwhile Avonbourne Year 7 girls spent the week as budding authors while Year 8s led a reading project for older people, with the aim of combatting loneliness and promoting friendship between generations.

Other Avonbourne projects included devising an Arctic coat to sell in low income countries, designing a new app to boost mental health, developing eco-friendly bird feeding products and selling laser made jewellery.