STUDENTS did their school proud as they showed off their eco-project at the national finals of a technology competition on Monday last week.

Testbourne Community School science pupils Elyse Kenny, Lauren Armitage and Mia Paganuzzi travelled to the Royal Society in London with their Elm Town project to take part in the Teen Tech Awards which had more than 1,500 students entering in various categories.

The 14-year-olds made it to the final in the Design and Construction category with their model development of an eco-town to promote sustainable living.

The town included cob and underground houses, independent shops, renewable energy supplies and a poo-powered bus.

Testbourne’s associate assistant headteacher Ryan Lester said: “After months of work designing and perfecting their project the girls did themselves and Testbourne proud in their five minute pitch.

“Unfortunately the girls did not win the competition, but with over 1,500 students entering projects across all categories, they did amazingly well to reach the finals and they hope to act upon the feedback given and enter again next year.”

The girls, all in Year 9, hosted a stall for their project on the day and had to answer questions from judges where they explained their ideas.

Mia said: “We were very excited and proud to have been selected for the national finals as we put a lot of work into the project using our break times and after school sessions for many months now. It was good to work on it with my friends and I learnt more about presentation skills than I thought I would and feel like I could enter mastermind using my knowledge on eco-towns from all the research we did!”

The Teen Tech Awards are for students aged 11 to 16 and 16 to 19 who work in teams to look at problems and see if they can find a better way of doing things. A £1,000 prize is up for grabs in each category and the overall winners are presented with awards at Buckingham Palace.