Money Matters to NCH and Nottingham’s students
Students at schools across Nottingham are being taught lessons in money management thanks to the help of Nottingham City Homes.
The company has teamed up with the Children’s Safety Education Foundation to provide secondary schools with a resource called Money Matters to help Year 9 and 10 students learn more about how to manage their finances. Through the Money Matters booklets, students find out more about budgeting, bank accounts, credit unions, tackling loan sharks, the benefits of saving and the pitfalls of borrowing money and overspending, including the dangers of loan sharks. In Nottingham the programme is being used by Ellis Guilford, Djanogly, Farnborough and Haddon Park schools. And this is what year 10 pupils at Ellis Guilford had to say about the programme:
It’s been very useful. I think that without this some of us could end up in debt with people like loan sharks.
The booklet is really, really helpful as it teaches us how we should spend our money. It teaches us as individuals how to use our money so we have that knowledge for when we are older.
If we did not have these lessons then we would think we could go off and spend all our money. It teaches us about saving and not getting into trouble with our money.
Nottingham City Homes Chief Executive Nick Murphy said: I enjoyed going into a lesson to see how the students are using the booklets and learning about how important looking after your money is.
We have supported this programme in schools to make sure that students are equipped to make the right choices when they start earning in later life. All too often we see tenants who have not had this support and who get into difficulties with loan sharks and pay day lenders, ultimately putting their home at risk.
As a responsible landlord we want to help make sure that no one risks losing their home due to making poor financial decisions either now or in the future.
www.nottinghamcityhomes.org.uk
Michael Fitzgerald from the Children’s Safety Education Foundation said: In this ever changing world, financial literacy is a vital component for our young peoples' developments. The Children's Safety Education Foundation see this partnership work as vital in helping to achieve this.
Alan Keegan, from Ellis Guilford School, said: Navigating the often emotional space between financial security and financial hardship is a skill that cannot be learned too soon. Our students want, and deserve, to have this advantage in life sooner rather than later. Thanks to the assistance of NCH and CSEF we were given a useful tool which allowed us to begin this process.
For further information please contact Theresa Knight on 0115 915 7246 / 07900 226989
or email theresa.knight@nottinghamcityhomes.org.uk
‘Money Matters’ for young people
Knowing how to manage your money is more critical now than ever, so where better to start than with school children. Hundreds of young people in three schools in Torrington, Holsworthy and Bideford are being taught how to manage their finances thanks to the support of Westward Housing Group and Children's Safety Education Foundation.
Liam Prewitt, Year 9 student at Holsworthy Community College, said: 'I think the booklet is easy and interesting to use. It will help me be more knowledgeable about managing money in the future.'
The Westward funded booklets guide young people through how to save, warn about the pitfalls of borrowing money and overspending, and the danger from loan sharks. The schools use the ‘Money Matters’ book to address budgeting, bank accounts, debit and credit cards, credit unions, internet banking, tackling loan sharks and much more.
Westward’s Operations Director, Nigel Barnard said: 'We are pleased to be part of this programme. By helping to teach some basic money and management skills to the younger generation, we may be able to help stop more people falling into debt and financial difficulties later in life'.
Mr Foster, Deputy Head of Holsworthy Community College said: 'We are thrilled to have received this excellent resource at no cost to the school. The material is pitched at the appropriate level and is presented in a manner to grabs young people’s attention. The Money Matters booklets cover the full range of topics necessary to pre-16s. They are used as a short course text and, due to the numbers provided, they then retained by the students at the end for future reference. Brilliant!'.
Children learn to tackle bullying
Westward is working in partnership with the Children’s Safety Education Foundation (CSEF) to equip local primary school children with skills to deal with difficult social issues such as bullying.
We have sponsored Year 6 at Ashburton Primary School, in Teignbridge, where we have over 650 properties, with multiple copies of learning resources. These include ‘Will Power’ - a workbook that focuses on life issues such as smoking; alcohol; drugs; my body and taking control and ‘Anti-Bullying – A Young Person’s Guide’ which focuses on victims and bullies, reflecting on real experiences.
The CSEF works with organisations such as housing associations to promote and further the personal safety and public citizenship of children and young people and the books are endorsed by the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
Michael Fitzgerald, schools liaison officer from the CSEF, visited the school and spoke to a class about these issues alongside our Customer Involvement Manager Paul Raeburn and Housing Officer Naomi Yeandle.
Feedback from pupils using the books have included: 'Using the booklets was a really useful way of learning more about bullying,' said Emma; 'The booklets really help you to understand if you are being bullied or if it is just friends falling out and getting upset,' commented Kodey and classmate Reuben added: 'The booklets are great because then you know what to do when someone is being bullied.'
Customer Involvement Ashburton Primary School pupils Manager Paul Raeburn said: 'At Westward we are focussed on building strong communities and by working with schools and youngsters we are investing in the future of our neighbourhoods.'