PUPILS from several schools in the Basingstoke area took part in a day of workshops about the digital industries.

Held at the Ark Conference Centre on December 4, around 150 pupils from Brighton Hill Community School, Bishop Challoner School, and Oasis Academy Sholing attended the Festival of the Creative and Digital Industries, which was organised by the Southern Universities Network (SUN).

Local employers and businesses, including Singsician Academy, Greg Barker Consulting, Louise Reed Photography and Flat-Out Magazine put on workshops and lectures to educate the students on the skills gap in the creative and digital industries.

SUN project leader, Nadia Morad, said: "The Festival of the Creative and Digital Industries was a great success. The employers set some fascinating and challenging creative and digital projects for students to work on and the response was brilliant. The students' creative ideas, team working skills and ability to challenge themselves and others was outstanding.

"We hope this event has given the students a taster of what a career in the creative and digital sector might involve, as well as showing them how creative and talented they already are."