Pupils brave the Dragons' Den

Brentford School for Girls and Gumley School both winners

Pupils from three Hounslow schools secured hundreds of pounds in funding after successfully pitching ideas on how to improve road safety and public transport, following a Dragon’s Den-style competition last week.

The students from Gumley House School, St Marks RC School and Brentford School for Girls presented their ideas to a panel of judges including Hounslow Council’s Deputy Leader, Cllr Amrit Mann, PC Mark James, and Joseph Lewis from the London Transport Museum.

Cllr Mann, who is also cabinet member for environment said: “There were some great ideas and I was particularly pleased with the students’ enthusiasm and commitment to improving their borough.”

With groups of 10 pupils each, both Gumley House and St Mark’s schools pitches were based on the idea of creating a film, then using workshops and social media to spread its positive messages about improving behaviour on buses.

Brentford School for Girls focused on road safety by creating and delivering a series of workshops based on encouraging sustainable and responsible travel, for both their own school and younger pupils from their feeder schools.

Each school was awarded £300 by the Dragons, on behalf of TfL, to develop their ideas over the new year.

The event, which was held at the Holiday Inn in Brentford, was part of Transport for London’s Youth Travel Ambassadors programme.