Northwood College for Girls was a hive of activity as it hosted the final of the GDST ‘Invent’ event – a ‘dragon’s den’ style competition to pitch a new or improved product to a panel of experts – last Friday.

More than 30 competitors aged between 10 and 13 from four schools – Norwich High School for Girls, Nottingham Girls’ High School, Portsmouth High School, and Northwood College itself – took part.

The panel – Narpreet Sidhu, GDST procurement manager with experience as a buyer for Disney Stores, Ralph Lauren and Tesco, Jasmine Birtles, finance expert, founder of moneymagpie.com and author of 38 books, and Will Wareing, deputy director of education at the GDST – heard 90-second pitches for products as diverse as a clear plaster cast, bouncy trainers and a hairbrush that can be transformed in to an inflatable bed.

Serena Ediriwira, Francesca Hawes, Laaibah Ali, and Elina Patel from Northwood College for Girls confidently presented their concept of an ingenious app that controls a home alarm system.

Simply download the app and know that you will be alerted if your car or home alarm is activated.

A camera function allows you to view the scene of the potential burglary!

Northwood College’s Keira Patel and Anaiya Dave put forward the idea of a Hair Brush with a difference – the innovative ‘Brush to Go’ boasts a built in mirror, light, hair bands and ingenious bristles which can be removed to reveal hair dye – perfect for touching up grey roots.

The winning team was ‘Bedtime Babies’ from Nottingham Girls’ High School, who presented a cot with an in-built sensor and voice recorder device, so that parents’ voices are played back when their baby starts to move and wake up.

The runners up were ‘Loo Lessons’ from Norwich High School for Girls, with toilet roll pre-printed with maths puzzles and concepts – ‘learning on the job’.

Will Wareing said: “It was great to see how the girls entered into the spirit of the event.

“Their presentations were pitch-perfect and they answered all our questions with aplomb.

“I really hope to see some of these products available in the future.”

Jacqualyn Pain, head of Northwood College for Girls, said: “Our girls really enjoyed the experience of coming up with a concept, researching the market and presenting their ideas to the ‘dragons’.

“It has whetted their appetite for an entrepreneurial approach to their careers in the future.”