Blue Peter has announced the three winners who have been named CBBC intelligence officers.

Finley, 10, from Surrey, Jamie, 13, from Glasgow and Reuben, 13, from North Yorkshire were selected as part of a scheme on the programme called Project Petra, which sees the youngsters going into MI5′s headquarters on their first “mission”.

(BBC/MI5)
(BBC/MI5)

According to the BBC, it’s the first time TV cameras have been allowed into MI5′s headquarters at Thames House.

The trio were given a tour of the building, shown a range of spy gadgets and had the chance to meet the director general of MI5, Andrew Parker.

Their mission will be aired on April 16 at 5pm on CBBC.

Jamie said: “Before going into MI5 I felt really nervous but excited at the same time because I knew no kids or TV cameras had ever been in MI5 before. It felt really cool because we were making history that day.”

The eight contestants (BBC/Matt Squire)
The eight contestants (BBC/Matt Squire)

Eight candidates were chosen out of over 5,000 applicants and attended a CBBC Spy School weekend in Manchester in March.

The final three were then selected from this group by children’s author Anthony Horowitz, TV presenter and journalist Sonali Shah and Professor Christopher Andrew, the official historian of MI5.

Project Petra's Spy School judges Anthony Horowitz, Sonali Shah, and Professor Christopher Andrew (BBC/Matt Squire)
Project Petra’s Spy School judges Anthony Horowitz, Sonali Shah, and Professor Christopher Andrew (BBC/Matt Squire)

Ewan Vinnicombe, editor of Blue Peter, said: “The judges were so impressed by the abilities of all eight candidates at CBBC Spy School but what really stood out with the final three was their communication skills, their ability to work as a team, which is key to being an intelligence officer, and also how they were able to solve problems quickly and calmly.

“I hope the audience at home will enjoy watching too and that Project Petra will help them understand more about the world in which we live.”