Teaching youngsters the importance of saving cash

HAVANT Academy school held their money week in the summer term with the help of the Work Out Your Money Team from Citizens Advice Havant.
Lynette Meredith from Work Out Your MoneyLynette Meredith from Work Out Your Money
Lynette Meredith from Work Out Your Money

Organised by maths teacher Nancy Waites, this was a planned programme of financial education to help students gain the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to manage their money.

Pupils often like to quiz teachers by asking, ‘When will we need this in life?’

Well, not a single student asked this during money week.

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Money week allows students in all year groups to take part in various activities and sessions, focusing on using money responsibly.

Year 10 learnt about taxation and how to read a pay slip. Some got very jealous when they looked at the wages of Premier League footballers, but less jealous when they saw how much they paid in tax.

Years 8 and 9 learnt about borrowing money responsibly.

This included how different levels of interest are charged, what things you should never borrow money to pay for, and who you should never borrow money from.

Finally, Year 7 looked at savings and how they could earn large sums of cash by holding onto their pocket money or by getting a paper round in the future.

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A Year 7 pupil who saves £2 a week in the bank as soon as they start Havant Academy will have more than £500 when they leave in Year 11.

Money is a very important part of the new GCSE curriculum and is questioned more than ever before.

Using and understanding money is a vital life skill for students later in life.

The Work Out Your Money team played a very important role in the school’s money week and allowed students to investigate money matters from a practical point of view.

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Megan Lewis, a Year 7 student, said: ‘I enjoyed the work we did with Citizens Advice, they were really friendly and helped me realise how much I could save.

‘I will put it in the new piggy bank they gave me.’

Citizens Advice Havant and the Work Out Your Money team are based at Leigh Park Community Centre.

Last year the service helped more than 4,000 people with a diverse range of queries – the majority being finance related.

Since September 2014, financial capability has been a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for secondary schools and the Work Out Your Money team have worked closely with many local schools to implement this.

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The Work Out Your Money team run fun group sessions both in the community and schools on a variety of topics.

You may belong to a community group or school that would benefit from one of the Work Out Your Money chats.

If so, please do get in touch on (023) 9247 6013 or send an e-mail to [email protected].

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