THEY ARE the budding City whizzkids who have shown major stock market players how things should be done.

Three pupils from Thornden school, at Chandler's Ford, have increased a £100,000 investment by a cool £24,379 profit in just two months.

The money may be imaginary, but the success of 14-year-olds, Laura Dunkley and Sarah Greenham, and 15-year-old Laura Hepburn, in a national online investment challenge is real enough.

The trio only took up business and economics GCSE in September but have beaten off teams from 2,500 schools and sixth-from colleges.

Laura Hepburn, daughter of an international banker, puts her team's success down to a simple skill well known to schoolchildren the world over - ignoring their teacher's advice!

Laura said: "We didn't take the advice given. Most other teams went for IT shares. We decided to take a risk."

But Thornden's head of business and economics, Roger Scott, is delighted with their success.

Mr Scott, who has had a team top the Proshare National Investment Pro-gramme Portfolio Challenge before, said: "I don't think Proshare know how we managed it.

"They have done extremely well."

The girls will be concentrating on drawing up a report for the next stage of the competition, that could see them reach the finals held in the heart of the City of London itself.

And if any wheeler-dealers want to know the girls' big tip, they say retailer Arcadia PLC, whose shares rose from 45p to over £1, is the one to back.