By Tom Wright

Kings' School pupils have beaten 30,000 competitors and business professionals in a national stock exchange challenge.

Four youngsters from the Winchester school raised £25,000 in trading virtual shares over three months.

Jamie Rant, Jamie Strangeway, Jo Sutherden and Ben Page will now compete in the semi-finals of the IFS Student Investor Challenge in March.

Supported by Bloomberg, the competition gives teams of students £100,000 of virtual money to trade in FTSE 100 companies.

The team are now on track to win an all-expenses paid trip to the final in New York.

Alison Pask, vice principal at IFS University College, said: “This competition gives students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of making investment decisions, which will benefit them throughout their lives when making financial choices.

“It also introduces them to core concepts such as risk, reward and diversification.

“This is a real achievement and many congratulations go to the team from King's School.”