Sydenham High alumna Bianca Miller is one step closer to her goal of becoming Lord Sugar's business partner and winning a £250,000 investment deal, having reached the semi-final stage of this year's Apprentice.

As one of the final five Bianca, who runs her own personal branding business in South London, now faces the dreaded interviews in which her business plan will go under the microscope.

Bianca is one of the few candidates in this year's process who has not been taken back into the boardroom on a task failure.

Kathryn Pullen, Sydenham High headteacher, said: "Bianca is a great entrepreneurial role model for our current students and we're delighted to see her continuing to succeed in this tough process.

"Along with academic excellence, we teach girls our own three Rs - resourcefulness, reliability and resilience - and Bianca has shown all these qualities during the competition. She deserves to go all the way to the final."

Bianca was a sports captain at Sydenham High and was elected head of house in sixth form.

Teachers remember her as an enthusiastic, highly motivated, can-do girl who was fun, pleasant and sensible.As a taste of things to come, after leaving school with four A Levels and also won the school prize for business studies before going on to study business and management at university.

Watch Bianca in The Apprentice semi-final on BBC One at 9pm on Wednesday.