A Young Enterprise team from Worcester Sixth Form College have won a place in the competition's national finals.

Team Athena won Best Company at the West Midlands Regional Finals earlier this month for their plush toy that promotes good mental health.

It is the first time in 17 years that a group from South Worcestershire has reached the national finals.

The Worcester Sixth Form College team also scooped prestigious awards for the innovation and creativity of their product, ‘My Amego’ which has a series of coloured pompoms corresponding to emotions.

The team say that the child can zip the emotion they are feeling up and the caregiver can later discuss their feelings with them.

It is intended that this will help children who may find talking about, writing or expressing how they are feeling difficult. 

Worcester City Council has awarded a grant which will enable the entire team to travel to and stay in London.

Yasmin Li, Athena’s managing director, said: “We are so honoured to be representing Worcestershire and now the West Midlands in the Young Enterprise Company of the Year Final.

"It is a dream come true and we have worked so hard to develop the Amego, which we believe is a product that can really help children communicate their emotions and raise awareness of mental health issues.

"We are so grateful to Worcester Sixth Form College, Worcestershire County Council and our sponsors, Neil Westwood from Magic Whiteboard and Aurora Graphics & Displays for their support throughout.

"We have learnt so much about setting up and running a company from the Young Enterprise Scheme.

"The experience has been invaluable and we hope that we can continue to build on our success to date. The winning team from the London Final will go on to represent the UK in Lille in France, which would be amazing.”  

Edward Senior, Principal, added: “I am extremely proud of the achievements of our Young Enterprise team – not only their business acumen, maturity and hard work, but also the fact they chose to champion such an important issue for young people.

"The way in which they have investigated the usefulness of their product by visiting nurseries, primary schools and special schools is particularly admirable.

"I am grateful to College staff, Sue Viner and Mark Snow, who have supported the team throughout the year both in College and at external events.

"At Worcester Sixth Form College our pastoral team and students generally have been active in promoting positive mental health and most recently, in the run up to the current exam series ran a series of events to support Mental Health Awareness Week which including visits from PAT dogs.”

The team need to increase their digital presence to improve their chances of winning. They can be found on Twitter (@my_amego), Instagram (@my.amego) and Facebook (myAmego).

You can also find out more about Amego on their website, www.athenaye.wixsite.com/myamego.

The national final will take place on Tuesday, June 18.