Year 9 students Hannah Colling, 13, Charlotte Garbutt, 13, and Vicky Wainwright, 14, won software for the school after defeating 300 other schools to take first place in their age group in the PhoneBrain enterprise challenge.

Their winning entry was a service called Re-Tune Rave – a downloadable application for mobile phones which allows users to make their own music with a variety of virtual mobile instruments.

Five of the 13 finalists were entries from Filey School.

Business and ICT teacher Kelly Adams said: "The Gifted and Talented work at the school is all about giving our students skills employers are looking for in the workplace, and the PhoneBrain Enterprise Challenge was really good for drawing out these skills.

"Students were divided into groups and given a morning to complete the project, from brainstorming their ideas, to researching and developing the concept, and writing their business plan. During the course of the exercise they learnt skills such as working in a team, managing deadlines, risk analysis, and understanding business concepts.

"We find that students respond really well when they're given the opportunity to work on projects independently like this, with limited teacher input. All the teams enjoyed the freedom to make their own decisions, and they've really relished the opportunity to show what they could achieve. Winning the competition has been the icing on the cake really."

The pupils will get the chance to lock horns with their Scarborough counterparts as they prepare to enter the Dragon's Lair.

The youngsters have been taking part in an enterprise challenge run by NYBEP where they will research and present recommendations for Cancer Research to a panel of local businessmen, in a format similar to that of the hit BBC show Dragon's Den.

They will take on students from Graham, St Augustine's, Pindar and Raincliffe schools on July 16.

Headteacher Lorraine Gill said: "I am so proud of the achievements of our students. Their creativity and enterprise are really impressive. Kelly should get a prize too, for her commitment to the students!"