PUPILS at Fowey Primary School have been helping a business based in Cornwall to trial a secret new product.

And, in return, Rugged Interactive, which designs and makes products for indoor playgrounds and trampoline parks, has made a donation to the school.

Assistant headteacher Paul Trudgeon accepted a £500 cheque after pupils were involved in testing interactive equipment at the Bodmin-based business's Fowey site.

Over the last few months, Rugged Interactive has field tested the brand new product, as yet to be publicly revealed, with children from every year group, gathering information on how they used it and what they thought of the new game.

Rugged Interactive founder Simon Heap said: “It was fantastic to be able to ‘borrow’ all the year groups from the school to help us with our product testing, especially as my own children had previously been pupils there.

“It’s so powerful to hear what the children – who are the end-users of our products and who this kind of innovation is ultimately for – enjoy and what they want us to improve.

“Rugged Interactive products can be found in over 30 countries worldwide, with the results of the Fowey school field tests ultimately informing a product that will be installed in hundreds of locations - both across the country and overseas.”

Paul Trudgeon said: “It was great to be able to help a local business with their development. The children really loved contributing and even filled out a questionnaire as part of their classroom work after testing.

“It’s important to us to engage with local companies to show the pupils what a variety of work opportunities are available to them.”

Simon said: “The most difficult thing was to keep the product secret as it’s a brand new innovation in the world, although I can say it has a football theme!

“We’re aiming to launch it early next year, so the children’s input will, hopefully, ensure its success.”

Rugged Interactive’s main engineering base is headquartered in Bodmin, with a sales office in Bristol. In 2017, the business won funding after appearing on BBC TV’s Dragon’s Den programme.