Pocklington students are bidding to be the stock market investors of the future.

Two teams of pupils from Pocklington School have secured a place in the semi-finals of a national student investor challenge run by the London Institute of Banking & Finance.

Sixth form economics and business students invested virtual money in the London stock exchange to create two portfolios, each worth £100,000.

By following the ups and downs of the market in real time, they judged when to buy and sell in order to make a virtual profit.

Both of the school's teams ended up in the top ten per cent nationally, out of approximately 5,000 teams, and will now compete against 500 other semi-finalists for four weeks - from February 19 to March 16.

Four lower sixth members (Luke Potter, Jonty Goddard, Oli Robinson and Pete Massey) compete under the name RPG Trading, while a mix of lower and upper sixth formers (Ernest Kwong, Jeff Tse, Anson Mao and Peter Wu) compete together as REJ Trading.

The student's teacher Robin Crewes said: "It's a fantastic achievement as this was a tough year for the markets, making it even more competitive. Luke and Ernest led their teams with determination, enthusiasm and resilience."

Each Monday during the semi-finals the teams will be given a selection of different investments, and will be asked to correctly predict the closing price of those assets by the end of trading on Friday, using accurate and detailed research.

The eight best-performing teams will then be invited to the live national final, with the winners receiving a trip to New York.