A company which turns wooden pallets into coasters has been named the best in Kent in a competition for sixth form students introducing them to the world of work.

Green Shoots, run by 11 business studies classmates at Highworth Grammar School for Girls in Ashford, was named the winner of the Kent and Medway final of Young Enterprise.

Formed at the beginning of the school year, the firm has sold 160 products, generating £1,287 of revenue, by releiving local businesses of unwanted pallets and turning them into personalised drink mats and plaques.

The students beat off competition from five other finalists, each of which had won their district heats, during the ceremony at Oakwood House in Maidstone on Wednesday.

“It’s incredible,” said managing director Ben Wood from Appledore. “All the work has been worthwhile. It has been a really long project for us but the award is fantastic.

“We are all friends but now we have all become really close outside of school too. We all have a laugh.”

The company also picked up the prize for best company report, delivered to the panel of three judges featuring FSB Kent chairman Bill Fox, business owner Gemma Blacker, who runs This Art of Mine in Maidstone, and Barbara Cooper, Kent County Council’s corporate director for growth, evironmemt and transport.

Its two new trophies will now sit in the trophy cabinet at Highworth Grammar School for Girls, which accept boys to its sixth form.

The team of Year 12 students will now go through to the Young Enterprise South East final next month, where it will be joined by the evening’s runner up .Dott, a manufacturer and seller of handmade greeting cards run by 13 students from Walthamstow Hall School in Sevenoaks.

They will have the chance to reach the national final and a European competition.

Mr Wood added: “The Young Enterprise experience has been brilliant. We have learned so much and all managed to grow as people.

“It has really opened our minds and has helped us in school with our business A-levels. It has helped us with teambuilding, leadership and public speaking.”

This year saw 34 teams enter the Young Enterprise competition across the county, designed to empower young people to harness their personal and business skills.

Young Enterprise Kent chairman Bernard Spring said: “Every kid in Kent should get this opportunity and the frustration for me is that we can’t get more schools on board.

“When you see what the kids are capable of, it makes you think everyone should get this chance.”