Pupils from The Downs School in Compton recently got stuck into some personal finance workshops delivered by our financial education partner, WizeUp.
Financial education has been a teaching requirement of local authority secondary schools in England since 2014, and is often taught as part of Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) or Citizenship lessons.
However, the government has recently announced a review on how financial learning is delivered after the All Parliamentary Group on Financial Education found that delivery is challenging for many schools, with timing, funding, and lack of experience often cited as being the key barriers.
The inconsistency in financial education is one of the reasons the Society have partnered with WizeUp, a national financial charity who have been delivering financial education virtually and in person to schools since 2011. They aim to make learning about personal finance more accessible and importantly, engaging.
The Downs is the third school in the Society's local area to receive a workshop in 2023, following John Hansen in Andover, and John O' Gaunt in Hungerford. The sessions were delivered by Lee Giles, who has facilitated previous sessions, as well as Matthew Wilding, Senior Branch Manager of our Thatcham and Hungerford branches.
Matt said about the workshops: "It was great to be involved in speaking to the next generation of young adults who will, in only a few years’ time, start to make financial decisions that may well affect the rest of their lives. We discussed credit cards, loans, mortgages and even such things as direct debits and hire purchases, all things that I as an adult working in finance take for granted but some of which were brand new to the Year 9s we spoke to.
"I feel this is so valuable as so many of us have no savings and are not as financially savvy as we might like to think. It was a really enjoyable day - the students I spoke to really got involved and hopefully learnt a thing or two. I hope to return and get involved in financial education again in the future!"
“We really enjoyed having WizeUp in to deliver some of our finance topics. The sessions that Lee delivered were not only informative but also highly engaging. I am already looking to book again for next year!”
To learn more about our financial education projects, including Junior Newbury Building Society, which is aimed at primary school children, or to register your interest in a workshop at your school, click here.
