A new finance initiative at St Benedict’s Catholic High School proved so successful it is going to become an annual event.
Throughout the week long event, Maths lessons were finance focused, tutor time involved finance discussions and local organisations such as Red Pike Education, The Cumberland Building Society and The North Lakes Food Bank ran specialist finance sessions for a number of students.
Miss Hunter, Maths Teacher at the school organised the event. She said: “I was really pleased with how the students responded to our first Finance Week here at St Benedict’s. We ran a variety of different activities in which the students were learning about budgeting, money management, saving, borrowing and financial risk, with the aim to prepare the students for the future.
“I believe holding events such as Finance Week and incorporating financial education into our lessons here at St Benedict’s is so important for our young people to experience. Young people are exposed to money through spending and saving their pocket money, mobile phones, pre-paid cards and part time jobs. Therefore, we want our students to leave St Benedict’s and take control of their own money management whilst planning for their future.”
Delegates from The Cumberland Building Society visited school, and delivered workshops on various topics including ‘How to run a Car’ and ‘Budgeting and preparing for the future.’
Andrew Gordon, Head of Relationships at The Cumberland, said: “Financial literacy is a really important subject for young people to understand today. Changes in the way we manage our money now have had a big impact on how children, young adults and parents spend and save.”
“As a local financial services organisation we’re committed to supporting education programmes and we’re pleased to be involved in learning activities at a number of local schools and colleges.”
The North Lakes Foodbank came into school and ran sessions with Year 10 and Year 12 students.
They aimed to make students aware of the savings you could make when you compared everyday supermarket products. As a class, students compared branded and unbranded products and completed shopping lists.
The Foodbank delivered a powerful message about the importance of budgeting and making savings if possible where you can and the unfortunate circumstances some people in our local area find themselves in due to making the wrong decisions when it comes to spending.
Red Pike Education also attending during Finance Week, with Year 8 and Year 9 classes attending sessions ran by James Keuchel. James set up running a car scenarios and project management scenarios, both involving budgeting and maximising your income. The use of real life skills within these sessions will help prepare students for the future and the decisions they will face.
Miss Hunter is now planning the same event again for next year, she said: “We owe it to the students to prepare them to make critical decisions when it comes to student loans, getting a job or living independently and I hope they now feel more confident about these decisions since Finance week.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I hope the students did too. I am looking forward to next year’s Finance Week already.”
