CHILDREN at a Worcestershire school have helped launch a national campaign which encourages eco-friendly and green intitiatives.

The Make Your Mark Challenge is the UK’s biggest, live one-day enterprise competition and will kick-start Global Entrepreneurship Week, which runs from Monday, November 16, until Sunday, November 22.

Open to 14 to 19-year-olds nationwide, it is free to enter and it offers teachers a fun and rewarding way to engage their students in an enterprising way.

The competition is designed to improve students’ enterprise capabilities, including risk-taking, creativity, financial planning and communication.

This year’s Make Your Mark Challenge will encourage thousands of students in schools and colleges to come up with green business ideas, and to consider their environmental impact.

King Charles I School in Kidderminster was among the first schools to register for the national challenge and was chosen to launch the event in Worcestershire.

Last year 56,000 students took part in the initiative, and this year the competition has a low-carbon theme – encouraging participants to consider the impact of their business ideas.

The school’s business and enterprise project manager Eileen Stead said: “The year 10 pupils came up with some great ideas and are really looking forward to taking part in the challenge.

“It is particularly relevant as the school has been an eco school for the past two years and we are committed to continued improvement of our school and community environment.

The school has several events planned for Global Entrepreneurship Week, including a challenge with Morgan cars.

“But we’ve chosen to be part of the challenge to start the week as its great for these young adults to showcase their ideas against their contemporaries both in the region and nationally.”

For more information on the Make Your Mark Challenge 2009 please call 08450 940226 or e-mail challenge@ makeyourmark.org.uk.