Students from a High Wycombe school won praise for their “maturity, enthusiasm and initiative” after attending workshops at the UK headquarters of technology giant Dell EMC.

Twelve Year 12 pupils from The Highcrest Academy took part in three one-day Powering Potential sessions run by The Transformation Trust and Dell EMC in Bracknell.

The workshops focused on employability skills, with students working in a team with teenagers from other schools. The pupils’ task was to pitch an IT-related business idea to experts who mentored the teams to help them develop their ideas.

Rob Evans, Highcrest’s careers leader, said: “This was a brilliant opportunity for our students to engage with senior executives from Dell EMC and they took full advantage of it. I hope we will be able to work with Dell EMC and The Transformation Trust in the future. Tis sort of activity makes a real difference for our students. The students were an absolute credit to the school, and really contributed and participated with the Dell EMC mentors in the workshop sessions.”