YBS launches online financial education lessons for primary and secondary school children at home during lockdown

Yorkshire Building Society has launched six online lessons of its financial education programme Money Minds, to support parents, carers, teachers and all Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 primary school pupils as well as Key Stage 3 secondary pupils through the coronavirus pandemic.

Due to new national lockdown measures leading to the closure of schools, the Society has released two Key Stage 1 (aged 5-7) digital Money Minds lessons on the topics of ‘Keeping Money Safe’ and ‘Wants and Needs’ and two Key Stage 2 (aged 8-11) lessons on the topics of ‘Vacation Venture’ and ‘Project Party’ to teach them about the importance of budgeting.

The Society has also launched two new Key Stage 3 (aged 11-14) digital lessons for students on the topics of ‘Bills and Budgets’ and ‘Project Profit’ to teach them about the importance of budgeting and being financially resilient.

The video lessons should take between 25-40 minutes to complete and are presented by colleagues from the Society.

Money Minds is a free programme consisting of a series of activities and projects designed to promote discussion and learning amongst children and young people and is usually delivered in schools by colleagues from the Society as part of its volunteering programme.

Society colleagues working in branches are key workers and are supporting customers with essential financial services through the Covid-19 outbreak and new lockdowns.

Sharon Stirling, manager at Yorkshire Building Society’s Edinburgh branch filmed the ‘Keeping Money Safe’ and ‘Project Party’ lesson which teaches children how to budget whilst planning a party.

She said: “We know that there have been really hard times over the last nine months for children, teachers, parents and guardians. Now with schools closing again I hope that our digital Money Minds lessons will help in any small way in making their lives a little easier by providing some quality ‘go to’ content available to use for home-schooling or in classrooms for vulnerable children and those of key workers.

“I’ve delivered numerous face-to-face Money Minds lessons for the Society to pupils in the past and know from experience how impactful they are. The feedback we have received so far on our online sessions has been really positive so we are really pleased they are being well received.”

Louise Neill, Community Manager at Yorkshire Building Society has developed the financial education lessons. She said: “We’re committed to supporting children and young people in teaching financial education through our Money Minds programme. As we usually have our colleagues volunteering in schools we have had to adapt the way we deliver these. It’s incredible that our branch colleagues, classed as key workers supporting customers with essential financial services through the lockdowns, have been able to extend the help they can offer by providing these lessons which will continue to improve financial capability in the next generation in the UK.”

More than 25,000 pupils across the UK have now received a Money Minds lesson since the programme launched in 2015.

When children have completed the lesson their parents or guardians can e-mail the Society and they will be emailed a certificate.

Parents, teachers, guardians and children can view all available online Money Minds lessons at www.ybs.co.uk/media-centre/money-minds-home-school