Pupils from a Beccles school have been presented with their prizes for winning a national takeover challenge.

Grace Hall, Rory Jackson, Connor Prettyman and Kai Spackman from Beccles Free School were declared the overall winners of the National Youth Takeover Day held at Waveney District Council’s Riverside offices in Lowestoft on November 18.

The event, organised by the council’s Active Communities Team and the Waveney Youth Council, saw pupils from the Benjamin Britten Music Academy, Ormiston Denes Academy, Pakefield High School, Beccles Free School and Sir John Leman High School in Beccles, learn more about the challenges involved in delivering local health services.

Joined by representatives from East Coast Community Healthcare, the council and NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group, the pupils learnt about the delivery and funding of local health services and were tasked with deciding how to spend the CCG’s £360m budget over the next five years. Waveney MP Peter Aldous also joined the pupils during the event.

Frank Mortimer, Waveney’s cabinet member for customers and communities said: “The students from Beccles Free School gave an excellent presentation to the panel and showed great teamwork throughout the day. It is always a pleasure to support Youth Takeover Day which gives our young people the opportunity to learn more about how local services are delivered.”

During the day, the pupils were faced with a series of hypothetical challenges including a need to invest more in mental health services and reorganisation in social care. This meant reallocating their budget across a wide range of services to meet the needs of the public, whilst justifying their decisions to an expert panel.

The winning pupils each received a £50 voucher for Sentinel Leisure Trust facilities, donated by Sentinel and Lowestoft Rising.