A team of students from Sir Thomas Rich’s School have become the BASE 2018 National Champions, beating more than 520 schools and 4,000 students. BASE is a Business and Accounting competition run by the Institute of Chartered Accountancy in England and Wales for students in schools or colleges aged 16-17. Students were required to study several documents of information before drawing a conclusion as to a profitable and ethical business strategy for a wearable tech company. Their final recommendation was presented to a judging panel who then questioned the team on their decision.

Oliver Gordon, Hunter Gray-Steele, James Goatley, Ireoluwa Adegboyega, George Hawthorne and Angelo Thavaratnarajah impressed the judges the most out of all of the finalists, who had previously made it through regional competitions across the UK.

“A lot of hard work has gone into this, so we’re obviously very happy to win. It’s a big moment for us and gives us recognition for the hard work we’ve put in” commented George Hawthorne.

Each winning team member won a Macbook Pro and will also take part in a Champion’s Day at the Chartered Accountants’ Hall in London. On top of this they secured a suite of i-pads alongside a day-long employability skills workshop for their school.