In December 2012, North Shore Academy invited Five Lamps’ MyBnk Project to deliver a taster session in personal finance to a handful of Year 9 students.
The group was selected by Assistant Head of KS4, Clare Marshall, as she recognised that the group was sure to benefit from money management education.
24 students received an hour’s stand-alone session of My Choices taken from the full programme Money Twist designed specifically for KS3 and KS4 learners. Topics which were covered in this module included needs, wants and budgeting, Youth Employment Laws and Minimum Wage and Saving.
Interactive activities were the favourite by the learners and feedback received after each session showed that the workshops had really engaged with every student.
Percentage of participants reporting good or better, After the programme:
- Understanding of three realistic ways to save money: 71%
Ability to prioritise needs and wants: 75%
Ability to use a budget to help me make effective use of my money: 92%
As well as measuring the academic outcomes of the workshops we also thought it was important to capture the soft outcomes and see how the young people really felt about what they had learnt in an hour. Here’s what some of the students told us:
“It has helped me and I am thinking of new ways to get money like jobs and good ways to save money”
“I think this is an excellent way to help us save money”
“Good because it helps people make options on how to spend and save their money”
Assistant Head of KS4 Claire Marshall commented on the Money Twist session:
“We felt the level was pitched right for the students, as money handling can be a difficult topic to grasp. The resources were really good, bright and user friendly. The course certainly made the students begin to think about how they were spending their pocket money and decide between what items were needed and which were just wants. We will definitely recommend MyBnk and look forward to working with Jenny and Five Lamps in the future”