Darwen pupils to give talk on money management at national conference

Emily Rolfe and Bethany Green, both aged 10, have been learning about their future finances through the DebtAware Money Management Programme.

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The conference will be taking place at the Museum of Liverpool. Both girls said they were feeling quite confident about delivering their thoughts on the programme.

Emily said: “It’s not really that nerve wracking because we’ve both performed in front of people before and it’s good that we’ve got each other because if we do something wrong then at least there is two of us.

Bethany said: “We’re going to talk about what it has been like to be a money mentor and put in our own opinions.”

The school is currently trying to obtain accreditation from DebtAware through running the two-year programme.

Eight students have been trained by Brian Souter, the foundation’s education manager, to be money mentors to other children by learning about issues such as budgeting, debt and wants and needs.

Bethany and Emily are planning to speak about about how they feel group work has been the most effective way of making a complicated subject simpler.

Emily said: “Some parts we have found complicated like learning about interest rates but Mr Souter used real life stories a lot which made things easier.

“This was the best part really for passing onto the other children and using the worksheets was good because this got the children involved rather than just having them sit and listen.

Bethany said: “We’ve loved doing the programme as we are getting to an age where we want to have our own money and bank account. It’s given us a chance to stand up and talk about that to our class.”

Emily and Bethany’s teacher Emma Johnson said that the programme was so important because although some students had money awareness, others had very little.

She said: “A lot of our children are not aware of how to manage money so it’s good that we can have students like Emily and Bethany to pass on their knowledge.”