Four talented students from Ilford County High school have triumphed in the London Area Finals of the Bank of England’s national ‘Target Two Point Zero’ competition.

Four talented students pitted their minds against the Bank of England and triumphed in the ‘Target Two Point Zero’ competition.

The impressive team, from Ilford County High School in Fremantle Road, Barkingside, won the London area finals of the competition, securing both a place in the national finals and £1,000 for their school.

“A lot of schools in the Redbridge area have taken part in it but none have progressed past the first round,” said teacher Henry Tiller.

“It’s a wonderful achievement.”

The competition, organised by The Times and the Bank of England, took place last week.

The four students, who are all in Year 13 and studying economics, had to put themselves into the position of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and come to a decision regarding how to keep inflation at its target level of two point zero.

They were praised for the ‘reasonable stance’ of their presentation, which incorporated the forward guidance plans of the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, who has said that interest rates will remain stable as long as unemployment stays at 7%.

They also had to answer questions put to them by a panel of judges which consisted of three Bank of England economists, one of which is a member of the Monetary Policy committee.

Their team received praise from the judges for the accurate answers they gave to the challenging questions that were asked of them and for the high quality of their presentation.

The four pupils - Sunny Dasjupta, Haseem Shah, Shane Vamadevan (the team captain) and Sandeep Vijayakumar - beat strong competition from six other schools to be declared the winning team.

Team Captain Shane said “I think it’s one of the best achievements of the whole team”

“It’s a testament to all the hard work we’ve put in over the last few months”.

Shane went on to say that while the team were confident about their chances in the final, they had to acknowledge that they will be up against five of the best teams in the country.If the Ilford County High school team win, the school will receive a cheque for £10,000.

Ilford County High was the only school in Redbridge to make it through to the London Area Finals and had to win against 15 other schools to achieve their place.

They will now be one of six teams to progress to the national final, which will be held at the Bank of England at the end of March.

Mr Tiller and other teachers at the school have high hopes that the team will go on to become the national champions.

Schools they were up against include The Latymer School, St Paul’s School and Queen Elizabeth’s School in Barnet.