Youngsters can work out their money

Fiona Ross in the blue T-shirt at the front of the class and Brenda Abbott one of our volunteers, helping the Year 6 class of Front Lawn Primary Academy

This was a really exciting opportunity for Work Out Your Money.

Our work has been focussed on educating secondary school students how to manage their money, but of course, you are never too young to start.

A recent Money Advice Service study, ‘Habit Formation and Learning in Young Children’, authored by behaviour experts at Cambridge University, showed that money habits are set by the age of seven years old.

It highlights the power of parents to foster money skills at home – core behaviours which they will take into adulthood will affect financial decisions they make during the rest of their lives.

We were actively looking for a primary school and Front Lawn Primary Academy saw this as a great opportunity to equip their Year 6 group with important money skills.

The lesson entitled What is money? was delivered in two parts.

The first lesson encouraged the children to consider the history of money and how it all came about.

They considered the cost of everyday items and how to use money to pay for them.

The children particularly enjoyed handling the money and studying the new fiver.

Technological change has meant that we have moved to a more cashless society where young people no longer handle money.

This is evident with the introduction of contactless cards and online banking.

Some parents pay pocket money direct into bank accounts for their children.

While all this change gives young people more opportunities to save it also reduces the visibility of money and a hands-on, traditional approach to managing it.

The second lesson, one week later, gave parents and guardians the opportunity to join us and see what the children had learnt.

It was a very interactive session and the parents were keen to get involved.

If you feel your school would benefit from the Work Out Your Money financial capability programme, you can contact us on [email protected] or telephone (023) 9247 6013.

o Work Out Your Money, a Citizens Advice Havant initiative set up by Jon Stuart, CEO, and funded by the Big Lottery, has been running financial capability lessons in secondary schools and in the community since December 2014.