PA
A 12-year-old boy has been suspended from his 'healthy eating' school for selling sweets to his fellow pupils.
Tommie Rose claims he was making up to £200 a day selling chocolate and fizzy drinks to students at the Oasis Academy in Salford.
Despite being warned by staff that he was breaking the school's healthy eating policy, the young entrepreneur carried on plying his trade.
His school have now suspended him for a week.
Tommie told the BBC that he got the idea for his business from the TV show The Apprentice, and took inspiration from an episode which showed how to buy goods from shops and then sell them on.
Tommie bought his sweets and drinks in large quantities from wholesalers then sold them on at a profit at school.
The youngster said: "I've got a good business brain and it gave me the idea what to do," he said, "I saw stuff was going for cheap, so I bought about £30 worth and then dotted it around mates' houses. I would sell them in the playground - some days I would make up to £200."
Tommie's dad Gary said he had no idea how much trade his son was doing:
"He'd go out the house in the morning [with] nothing in the bag, then we'd get a phone call later in the day to say he'd been selling again," he said. "We were flabbergasted when we found out how much he was doing and we just wondered how we'd let it go on under our noses. But it just goes to show how crafty the youth of today are."
He added that Tommie had been disciplined by being grounded and had had his phone and computer confiscated for breaking the rules at school, but said he felt his suspension was 'excessive', saying: "I just feel school could have looked to an alternative punishment. It's a really harsh punishment that doesn't fit the crime."
A spokesman for the school said: "Whilst we understand the motivation for a bit of entrepreneurialism, we would rather work alongside all students and channel that motivation into an activity that doesn't break the academy rules.
"Activities which undermine our healthy eating policy cannot be tolerated."
You can't help but admire Tommie's entrepreneurial spirit though, can you?!