Pupils are developing their own smart phone app after a Dragon’s Den entrepreneur invested £1,000 in their idea.

The students from Strood Academy were able to pitch their business plan to Theo Paphitis after winning a national young enterprise competition.

Called I-Britain, the app will allow users to search for events and attractions near to where they are, book tickets and create a scrapbook of locations.

The pupils’ idea led them to be crowned champions in the National Enterprise Challenge where the judges included The Apprentice star Lord Sugar.

The Year 10 pupils were then invited to help launch this year’s competition in London – and present their idea to another well-known entrepreneur – Mr Paphitis from Dragons’ Den.

He was so impressed with the design for the app, he has offered the students £1,000 investment to develop it. The pupils have also received pledges of £1,000 from Enterprise University London and £500 for OCR exam board.

Georgia Wood, 15, described the experience as a once in a lifetime opportunity. She added: “It proves that you’re never too young to be successful”.

The students will use the funds to develop the design of the app – and help their plans become a reality.

They will be working with a team of technology experts and are currently in talks with a university college and a company in Stafford to decide who will create the app.

Last week, the pupils – Harry Wyatt, Tobias Cole, Amy Thorn, Caylen Washer, Cerys Healy and Georgia Wood – were invited to the House of Commons for the launch of the Enterprise Education Group.

They met the Speaker John Bercow, enterprise adviser Lord Young and business minister Matt Hancock who even took a ‘selfie’ photo with them.

Wilma Millar, head of business and enterprise at Strood Academy, said: “Everyone was incredibly impressed with the students. The Speaker personally shook all their hands and congratulated them.

“The students have been invited to make a presentation at the final of this year’s National Enterprise Challenge in July, so they have set themselves a target of being at least part way down the road with the development of the app by then.”