Students at Hayle Community School had a first-hand insight into the world of international trade during an award-winning trip to Spain.

Three students won the two-day visit to Alicante when they entered the Passport to Export competition organised by the school in partnership with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), Cornwall Education Business Partnership (EBP) and the Regional Language Network (RLN).

The winning team called The "Map Monsters" - Zack Such, Liam Heaney and Sean Merrett - entered the competition in which they had to devise a winning product or service idea suitable for export to Spain. The companies presented their ideas in English and Spanish by Videoconference with the UKTI team in Madrid.

They impressed the judges with their business plan to develop a waterproof flexible map made from a cotton mixture material. It can have any type of map printed on both sides and has advertising space alongside which can be sold.

While in Spain the company visited a local Cornish exporter, Cornish Pride, and learned how they brought their product to market in Spain.

Tom Hickie, curriculum, manager of Cornwall education business partnership, said: "The visit was an excellent example of partnership between business and education and the students gained a great deal from talking to the managing director of Cornish Pride' in Orba, Spain in person."

Rory Uniacke, UKTI's international trade manager in Devon and Cornwall, said: "The UK trade and investment team in Madrid were impressed by the thought and preparation that went into each of the original presentations, however the excellent business case put forward by Map Monsters was a clear winner, as it showed a very good understanding of the key issues companies need to consider when starting to trade internationally."

The company demonstrated the indestructibility of the product and explained that shipping the product would be relatively cheap because they are so light and fit well into containers.

The product is also environmentally friendly because it uses no unnecessary packaging.

The competition was designed to introduce language students to the idea of exporting.

Year 10 and Year 11 students were invited to set up companies of at least three members to work with business organisations in the UK and Spain to devise ideas for a product or service suitable for export.

Students took part in coaching workshops and were given help developing their projects by experts like Mike Puzey, UKTI's international trade adviser for Cornwall.

The competition culminated with a Spanish tapas night at the school where a live video link to the UKTI team in Madrid allowed each of the six teams to present their projects.