Talented pupils at St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School have been invited to showcase their amazing design for the a 'planet friendly' smart bag at a national science exhibition.

The talented six - all aged 16 to 17 - beat some older degree students to make the finals of the Youth Industrial STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) 'clean growth' competition.

They came up with a design for a solar powered back pack capable of converting light energy into a battery which could also charge the owner's mobile phone.

The bag would be made out of biodegradable materials/conductive fibres.

One of the 'all girl' team Lorraine Mohanraj said they initially worked separately after head of science at the Langley Road school Sam Brophy entered them in the competition.

She said: "We did our own research and sent the results to each other. Then we would meet up at lunchtime to discuss ways of putting it all together."

Their proud teacher Mr Brophy admits that he mistakenly entered them in the senior section of the competition initially, when their ages meant they should have been in the intermediary.

It has made their success alongside older competitors even more impressive.

The team has now been invited to showcase their project at the national competition finals in Birmingham as part of the Big Bang exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre on March 16 and 17. They will all be staying in the city for the two days.

Lorraine said: "This has given us so much confidence, to do well in such a big competition has made us feel we really can go on to study successfully for degrees."

The proud team members are Liya Manuel, Nicki Nkomo, Lorraine Mohanraj, Rochelle Reginold, Riya Sood-Loomba and Neha Zehra.