A BUILDING society in Bolton is helping to put money lessons on the timetable in local schools.

Yorkshire Building Society colleagues in Bolton are offering to deliver innovative financial education lessons at local schools as they aim to improve life chances for young people.

Money Minds is a free programme consisting of a series of activities and projects designed to promote discussion and learning about money among children and young people aged five to 19 of all abilities.

The society says that recent research by the Education Policy Institute suggests the most disadvantaged pupils are more than two years behind their classmates when they sit their GCSEs.

Karen Cannon, Yorkshire Building Society’s branch manager in Bolton, said: “Learning how to effectively manage finances is a vital life skill. As research has shown that disadvantaged pupils are over two years behind their peers by the time they are 16 and we want to use our colleagues’ expertise in financial education to help narrow that gap.

“Our Money Minds sessions are designed to engage pupils and enable them to test and expand their vocabulary and understanding of money through fun activities.

“We’re committed to supporting schools in Bolton in teaching financial education and hope that our Money Minds programme will help to improve financial capability and social mobility across the UK. If you are a teacher who is interested in having a lesson delivered then you can register on our Money Minds website.”

In the 2016/17 academic year over 8,000 pupils in the UK benefitted from a Money Minds lesson.

Money Minds topics range from keeping money safe for ages five to seven, planning a party to learn budgeting skills for children aged eight to 11, up to calculating interest and responsibilities to repay loans for older children.

The activities seek to build decision making skills, team working abilities and practical maths knowledge as well as financial literacy.

They are delivered by Yorkshire Building Society colleagues as part of the mutual’s award-winning corporate volunteering scheme, which allocates each employee 31 hours’ paid leave every year to carry out volunteering in local communities.

Each Money Minds session is delivered in conjunction with a classroom teacher and the building staff member of staff completes a Classroom Ethics and Safeguarding Awareness course prior to leading the group.

Schools interested should contact the building society.

n More information about Money Minds can be found at www.money-minds.co.uk