The Two Chocolatiers, with their handmade chocolates, from St Sampson's High School have won the Overall Award in the 2016 Channel Islands Student Business Challenge beating other teams from St Sampson's as well as teams from Elizabeth College for the top slot. Additional awards were presented to the team demonstrating the best use of social media and also to teams in both schools for generating profit and benefiting the wider community. The awards ceremony was held at the St Pierre Park on Thursday 19 May 2016 and celebrated the achievements of the participating teams.

This is the first year that the Channel Islands Student Business Challenge has been held in Guernsey. 17 teams of students from St Sampson's High School and Elizabeth College created and ran their businesses for a two month period. Each team was given a loan of £100 to start their business and worked with mentors from corporate partners Barclays, EY, Ogier and Sure throughout the Challenge. The teams collectively made an overall net profit of over £4,000 of which around £1,500 is being donated to local charities, including the Jonah Gillingham Foundation, Les Bourgs Hospice, Autism Guernsey, the Priaulx Baby Foundation and Cancer Research.

Kath Clark, Deputy Headteacher, St Sampson's said "The Challenge has been amazing, the whole school have enjoyed it and the students who participated have seen improvements in their literacy and numeracy levels as well developing their organisation, teamwork and communication skills. We are so proud of their achievements."

Eddie Saints, Chief Executive of Sure said "I have been inspired to see the teams' creativity, enthusiasm and commitment to running their own businesses. Our mentors have enjoyed supporting the teams and helping them develop key employability skills."

Ken Bradley, Director of Barclays in Guernsey added "This was the first year of the Challenge in Guernsey and we have been impressed with the way the students have embraced it. The fact that they have used this opportunity to raise money for local charities makes it even more rewarding."

The full list of winners is:

The Overall Channel Islands Student Business Challenge winner 2016 is:
St Sampson's The Two Chocolatiers with their handmade chocolate truffles, rocky road bites and hot chocolate kits
The other winners from St Sampson's High School are:
Profit Winner: Something Sweet with their pick and mix sweets
Community Winner: Rockin Recyclers with their pencil cases, key rings and phone charger cases made from recycled materials.
The winners from Elizabeth College are:
Profit Winner: Faulkener's Fudge with their home made fudge
Community Winner: Fifty Bricks with their slate products
The overall Social Media winner is:
St Sampson's Creative Breeze with their lip balms and body scrubs

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