Three schools from Newport battled it out for a place at the Wales final of the 2014 Young Enterprise competition.

The schools - Rougemont, Duffryn and St Joseph's - were at the Newport city campus of the University of South Wales for the final of the Newport and Monmouthshire Young Enterprise 2014 competition.

The teams of youngsters had to impress the judges with their business, their trade stand, a business report and a presentation in front of the judges and invited The team from Rougemont was Envico, which had come up with the idea of a teaching aid for primary school age Welsh learners, which could be used at home as well as in school.

They were named Best Young Enterprise Company 2014 for the region. They also picked up awards for Best Product/Service, Best Presentation and Best Company Report.

Belsio, the team from Duffryn High School, which created its own chocolate bar, won the awards for Best Use of IT and Social Media and the Community and Environmental Awareness Award. Jay Waugh, of team Blesio, was named as giving the Best Individual Contribution.

St Joseph's team, Imperial, which created a pack aimed at teaching students about financial matters, picked up the award for the Best Trade Stand and Interview.

Kath Lewis, chairman of Newport and Monmouthshire Young Enterprise, said: “I was extremely pleased with the enthusiasm, dedication and hard work shown by all the teams who made it to the area finals.

Kath, head of marketing and HR at Newport-based IAC Ltd, said: “The experience of taking part in the Young Enterprise programme will stand them in good stead for their future careers. Recognition should also be given to those teams who participated in the programme but didn’t make it to the area final, the experience itself is success enough.

“Young Enterprise’s philosophy is learning by doing. As a young enterprise alumni myself, I was inspired by the programme and the real world experience. It was the first step in my journey in business and particularly marketing, I hope for many of the students it will inspire them on to their chosen careers.

Of the three schools who competed in the Newport and Monmouthshire Young Enterprise regional finals, Kath said St Joseph’s School displayed amazing confidence and an extremely professional brand, image and team spirit and Duffryn School had a great product and enterprising way of going to market.

She said the Duffryn team have obviously put a lot of effort in to trade fairs and markets in order to get their product to market.

She said Rougemont had an extremely professional presentation & company report the judges commented that this is the look and style of writing they would expect to see from an established business.

Carys Owen, head of business studies and economics at Rougemont, said the Envico team was delighted to be representing the region at the all-Wales final.

She said: "Young Enterprise is very important to the school and the students. At the start of the process we had 20 pupils in the team and we still have 16 of them involved. This is my first year of being involved and I have really enjoyed it. Envico are really pleased. They are already looking to improve everything in time for the final."

Chris Taylor, operations director at Newport-based Kymin, which acted as mentor for the Duffryn team, said: "I’m delighted with the progress that the Duffryn pupils have made since joining the Young Enterprise Company Programme last year. Collecting these awards is a testament to their dedication and ability to learn business skills within a short space of time.

"I feel that special praise should also go to the teachers involved, James Rees and Lynette Healy who have embraced the scheme and put a lot of their time and commitment with the team of pupils. They have also benefited from local support from their regular mentor, Lee Deakin from the IPO office.

"The pupils should be proud of their rapid development and the valuable business experience they have gained from taking part in the programme."