Budding entrepreneurs from Hounslow have been crowned the London winners of a national business competition.

Students at St Mark's Catholic School, in Bath Road, won the regional heats of the Coca-Cola Enterprises Real Business Challenge and will now compete in the UK final.

They pitted their wits against teams from other schools to design an awareness-raising campaign for the charity Special Olympics Great Britain, which runs sports training and competitions for people with learning disabilities.

The teams worked with mentors at Vauxhall's Kia Oval to put together action plans on Thursday (January 29), which they then presented to a panel of judges.

As well as securing a place in the national final, the team from St Mark's earned themselves an all-expenses paid trip to London, including tickets to a West End show.

The winning team from St Mark's Catholic School in Hounslow

They will now present their winning campaign at the House of Commons to skills minister Nick Boles before competing in the grand final against the other 10 regional champions on March 18.

More than 75,000 pupils from over 780 secondary schools took part in this year's Real Business Challenge, which is now in its 12th year.

Head judge Maria Kokkinou, director of talent acquisition at Coca-Cola Enterprises GB, said: "St Mark's won the regional final as they fully understood the brief, they were very engaging and inspiring and very inclusive of Special Olympics.

"The #saysomethingspecial campaign made a very emotional connection with the audience."