Thornaby Academy students going round the twist….the Money Twist!

10th July, 2012

Thornaby Academy students going round the twist….the Money Twist!

In June 2012 Thornaby Academy took advantage of Five Lamp’s new partnership with social enterprise MyBnk to have a taster of the financial programmes being offered in the Tees Valley area.

70 Year 8 students all took part in short sessions looking at their choices for now and the future.

6 groups of year 8 students at Thornaby Academy took part in MyBnk’s financial workshop called Money Twist. Money Twist is designed with 11-16 year olds in mind and looks at their choices now and in the future when it comes to the world of finance.

The Money Twist programme consists of three highly interactive and adaptive sessions building young people’s knowledge around basic finance and helping them engage with money:
• Story of Money: History and features of money; forms of payment; currency and exchange rates
• Managing Money: Budgeting; youth employment; minimum wage; needs and wants; saving.
• Banking Money: Interest; accounts; ethical banking; flow of money connecting the learning from previous sessions.

Here’s what the Young people at Thornaby Academy said after participating in the workshops.

“I thought it was really good and I will save my money in the future” – Shannon

“I think it was great and want to know more about it for my future. Thank You MyBnk” – Josh

“I know why and how I should save my money more” – Jake

“I think it’s good to have lessons about saving and I was given a lot of information” – Yasir

MyBnk also measured the impact the workshops have on the young people and the results at Thornaby Academy shown that 92% of the 70 students felt more confident about dealing with money in the future; 94% now had the ability to differentiate between personal needs and wants; 80% now had the ability to cut back spending on a budget to make savings; 83% were confident in using a budget and 89% were confident in making money decisions.

Nina Geragusian, a Business and Enterprise teacher at Thornaby Academy said “The Money Twist workshops were excellent, fun, interactive, used great resources and was relevant to student’s understanding and managing of personal finances”

Five Lamps have continued working with Thornaby Academy on an Enterprise programme called Enterprise-in-a-Box, so watch this space for news on Young Social Entrepreneurs.

If you are a teacher or work within an educational setting and would like to know more about the MyBnk programmes Five Lamps are running contact Jenny Donaldson on (01642 608316) or teesvalley@mybnk.org

July 2012

Photograph shows: Matthew and Kern

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