Through its MoneySense programme, RBS has helped more than 5 million young people learn about money, reaching 356,000 young people in 2017 alone. To date, more than 14,000 teachers are registered to use MoneySense and pupils in 64% of secondary schools across the UK and Ireland are using the programme's interactive resources.
2017 also saw a total of 3,000 volunteers from the bank running workshops in schools, covering diverse topics from party-planning to crowd-funding, for a total of 12,000 hours.
Research by MoneySense showed that 55 per cent of young people aged 7-15 worry about their lack of financial knowledge and nearly two thirds of parents worry their child will grow up without a good grasp of managing money.
The parents section of the MoneySense website can help with fun ideas and games to teach children about budgeting for a family day trip, saving and the cost of everyday items. A practical example of this is through the programme’s realistic branch experience where young people are allowed to use an ATM, change currency, pay in coins and more. A new volunteer workshop was also released this year, in which 12-16 year-olds were tasked with creating business plans for social enterprises that address problems in their school or local community.
The start of 2018 will see the MoneySense programme presenting 8-12 year-olds with a crime scene and see them take on the role of fraud investigators. The focus is on being 'safe and secure' and this hands-on experience will alert pupils to various frauds and scams and how to avoid them.
Watch this one-minute video to find out how RBS makes learning about money feel real, relevant and fun:
