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As a parent, making sure your children have the best possible start in life is what we all hope for, isn’t it? I want to equip my own children with valuable life skills, including the ability to manage their finances and understand key financial concepts so that they can navigate the world without getting in to money troubles. And hopefully instead enjoy the results of sensible financial decisions.
Educating this next generation in financial literacy is an absolute must and something I have talked before about being passionate about. If I achieve one thing from writing this blog, I hope it is to inspire a generation of parents to learn more about managing their finances, and as a direct result, help shape the way that their own children view money matters. I would love to know that people are making sensible financial choices because I’ve inspired them to consider something new.
RedSTART
During this journey, I am meeting some amazing people. Last week I connected with Rob Gardner, the founder of RedSTART – a charity on a mission to educate 1,000,000 young people to budget, save, invest and give back. Rob explained that RedSTART was born from a desire to put people in control of their finances by giving them the skills they need to manage their financial futures from a young age.
Workshops in schools
RedSTART has grown from a team of 3 in 2012 to over 30 people today and has already helped over 3000 children in the UK through its Money Matters and Moneyssentials workshops.
Money Matters is a fully interactive financial education game for primary school children, in which they learn key financial behaviours in a fun, engaging, game-based environment.
The Money Matters workshops ask children ‘how much could you grow £500 in a day?’ Designed for primary school children, the day is full of learning in a fun, engaging and game-based environment. After some teaching time, the students apply the lessons they have learned to invest and grow their money. They can then step back and understand the key money management concepts behind each game.
Moneyssentials – a crash course in nailing your personal finance – is aimed at secondary school children. Over a single day, this interactive session engages and inspires. The result? Kids leave with new habits geared to building a stronger financial future.
Your school can take part
To date, Money Matters and Moneyssentials sessions have been run by RedSTART in schools, delivering face-to-face educational workshops. Last week, to celebrate gaining its charitable status, RedSTART expanded its offering by launching an online learning portal for primary and secondary schoolchildren and teachers.
This new hub will provide ready-made lesson plans and training resources for both primary and secondary school age groups. The materials, which are free to access, combine interactive games with more traditional knowledge sessions, giving a balance between fun and practical learning.
RedSTART are aware that they can reach more children by giving teachers the skills to deliver education straight to the classroom and their new online portal is a great way to achieve that. I just want to get the message out that this incredible resource is out there waiting to be used!
If you are passionate about equipping your children with valuable financial education, please do share this portal with your local school and encourage them to register to take part. Everything that is needed to run these sessions is on there – lesson plans, worksheets, videos.
I would love to hear from you if you are a parent or a teacher who is supporting this great initiative. If you are local, please let me know if you are running a RedSTART day as I may well come and join a session and help facilitate 😊
