Project Case Study

Adeyfield School - ‘a Business and Enterprise College’

School No: 812

Economic Wellbeing and Financial Capability - 'My Money Week'

This year three schools in Herts successfully applied to Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg) for bursaries of £500 in order to promote Financial Capability in their schools. Adeyfield is one of them and this is their case study on how they used the money.

Junior Apprentice Challenge day

All Year Seven students took part in a My Money Week enterprise day with the bursary received to run the event used as the basis of a ‘Junior Apprentice’ challenge to spend the money on an idea to help the School, or local community.  Form tutors were given resources for the day, based loosely on the ‘Secondary Activity Pack’ produced by pfeg.

In the first two lessons (2 hours), students were introduced to the difference between what they actually need in life and want by sorting through different scenario cards.  This brought up interesting discussions on a child’s right to live in a free society and be protected from harm.  Students entered into dialogue on whether mobile phones were a necessity these days for their safety, which is perhaps a reflection of the sign of our times.  There was a brainstorming activity to identify the different things 11 to 16 year olds spend money on and students were giving a handout on top money saving tips.  The session finished with students asked to carry out role plays to respond to different financial and moral dilemmas, using the scenario cards within the pfeg resource pack. 

The next two lessons were used to set the Junior Apprentice enterprise challenge: ‘your group has a budget of £500 to come up with an idea which would benefit the School and/or local community somehow’.  Students were required to produce a short pitch in whatever creative way they felt best suited their target audience.  Winning groups from each form then presented their idea to a panel of teacher judges in the final lesson of the day.  The winning team came up with an idea of revamping an area of the outside field and inviting local nursery schools to come and learn about gardening.  Other ideas included; more water points around School, a new Astroturf and extra PE equipment.  Students finished the day by being awarded a certificate which recognised the Enterprise skills they had shown, such as team working, a can do attitude and creativity.

Here are a couple of responses from students who took part in the event:

Learning Outcomes

The learning outcomes were that students have:

• a better idea of how to personally manage their finances.
• a better awareness of the difference between needs & wants.
• the ability to show ‘enterprising skills’ such as; teamwork, creativity, problem solving, presentation skills, listening skills etc.

Please contact Jamie Bird at Adeyfield School for further information: birdj@adeyfieldschool.org