Year 5 have been learning about the world of finance, thanks to a fantastic new course devised by a financially-savvy Farleigh parent. Caspar Hill (with support from Nigel Ashfield and James Bilderbeck) gave up a whole day to come and teach all four Year 5 classes about handling money, what it can do for us and how to use it wisely.

“We covered the importance of setting financial goals and having a plan to get there through budgeting sensibly”, explains Caspar. “We learnt about earning, saving and investing which was experienced through hands-on financial education games, including some that involved more risk than others. It was up to the children to decide a plan that worked for them to increase their £500. They came away understanding the concepts of risk and reward and that if something appears too good to be true, it probably is.”

The workshops included sections on interest, including demonstrations on the effect of compound interest, prudent borrowing and lending, and specific life skills - like why we might choose certain kinds of financial products, from savings accounts to mortgages. So each participant had to chart their attempt to ‘grow their portfolio’ over the workshop, through making wise decisions. We obviously have some future fiscal wizards in our midst, as some of the children had made a considerable profit by the end of the day!

Mr English, Year 5 Form Taker added, “This was a thoroughly rewarding experience for all the children involved. Evidence of how engaging this workshop was, was reflected in the hours of enthusiasm shown by the children in Year 5. It was clearly designed to get them thinking ‘outside the box’ and stretch their minds. It also encouraged teamwork and asked them to show resilience when decisions were not going their way! It was presented in such a way that the pupils didn’t actually realise how complex some of the maths was but they certainly rose to the occasion!’

All of the children enjoyed the workshops enormously and the feedback from parents has been glowing, so we are delighted that our Farleigh financial gurus have indicated they would like to make this an annual event in the Year 5 calendar.