Pupils cash in on lessons in finance
Children at a Cumbrian primary school spent an afternoon learning about savings, budgeting and personal finance as part of an exciting initiative to help schools teach financial literacy.
The event was to showcase a programme which is already helping over 100 Cumbrian children learn about money through a scheme being offered by the Cumberland Building Society, designed to help children understand how to look after their future finances.
The pilot programme between The Cumberland and Everfi Inc, a digital education innovator, helps young people build their financial confidence and learn how to manage their money from an early age. They have created a dedicated platform designed specifically for nine to 11-year-olds.
Brampton Primary School is one of the schools taking advantage of the programme, and welcomed representatives from both partner organisations visiting pupils to take part in half a day of workshops to showcase the scheme.
One of the workshops saw the pupils introduced to Vault: Understanding Money, an online resource broken down into modules so the children can digest them in an easy and engaging way.
Vault centres around a group of characters making financial choices which need to be solved to make it through to the end of the game – helping the children understand the difference between needs and wants, learning savings habits, and understanding investment.
Katy Walker, the financial education lead for Brampton Primary School, explained: “We are a financial centre of educational excellence, and already build financial education into our curriculum so this was a great opportunity.
“It was really engaging and Everfi’s online resource – Vault – is perfect as we live in an online world and the pupils are so used to using technology.
“It’s very difficult to teach financial literacy in primary school because it’s not a statutory part of the primary curriculum, but we will definitely be using the resource when we do our Money Week in June – anything that is free for the school that you can see the children engaging with and you know has a link with the learning we want to do is just great.”
Kelly Ashbridge, partnerships officer at the Cumberland Building Society, said: “Learning about money is something lots of people wished they’d done at school, so offering this to children in our communities is something we’re really proud of, as part of our purpose and commitment to Kinder banking.
“Understanding your finances is a life lesson key to a strong future, but many people don’t know where to turn to get the information they need in a way that is easily digestible and understandable, which is where our programme comes in.”
Vault: Understanding Money, will be rolled out to 25 primary schools surrounding Cumberland branches across Cumbria and north Lancashire free-of-charge. Click here to learn more about the programme.