Pocklington School students’ stock soars in national investment challenge

The investment skills of two teams of students from Pocklington School have earned them a place in the semi-finals of a national Student Investor Challenge.

Sixth Form economics and business students invested virtual money in the London stock exchange and other investment instruments to create two portfolios, each worth £100,000, which they managed by following the ups and downs of the market in real time, judging when to buy and sell in order to make a virtual profit.

Two teams from Pocklington School finished in the top 10% of around 5000 teams who entered the competition, staged by the London Institute of Banking & Finance. They will now compete against 500 other semi-finalists for four weeks from 19 February until 16 March.

Congratulations to Lower Sixth Formers Luke Potter, Jonty Goddard, Oli Robinson and Pete Massey, who compete under the name of RPG Trading, and to Lower Sixth Formers Ernest Kwong and Jeff Tse and Upper Sixth Formers Anson Mao and Peter Wu, who together are REJ Trading.

Economics and Business Studies teacher Robin Crewes said: ‘It’s a fantastic achievement as this was a tough year for the markets, making it even more competitive. A special mention must go to Luke and Ernest who led their teams with determination, enthusiasm and resilience.’

For each week of the semi-finals, teams will be given a selection of different investments on Monday morning with the aim of correctly predicting the closing price of these given assets by the end of trading each Friday using accurate and detailed research.

The eight best-performing teams from the semi-finals will be invited to the live national final, where they will compete in a number of business challenges. The winning team will receive a trip to New York.