Specialist school achieves Young Enterprise Centre of Excellence for financial education

The careers team at Wargrave House School, Newton-le-Willows, has scooped a national award for financial education.

The Young Enterprise Centre of Excellence award celebrates schools that are championing financial education. The Centre of Excellence programme recognises and rewards schools that are committing to excellence in financial education within their own environment and beyond.

The careers team worked alongside a financial education consultant, as part of the programme, to work towards the Young Money improvement framework, a set of national professional standards.

This involved creating engaging and inspiring learning programmes, alongside staff development and training, with learners at the heart of the goals of the programme.

As part of the specialist school’s commitment to ensuring financial education was embedded across the curriculum, they participated in several events and cultivated exciting programmes to engage learners.

During ‘My Money Week’, working alongside Barclays Bank, sessions were delivered to learners that focused on budgeting and coding. A pop-up bank was brought into the school so learners could gain a deeper understanding of banking and the types of transactions that can be done at a bank.

Yvette Carr, phase lead for Key Stage 3 and careers leaders, commented on the exciting news. She said: “We are delighted to receive national recognition for our commitment to financial education and be awarded a Young Enterprise Centre of Excellence title. 

“Financial education is an integral part of our curriculum, ensuring our young people have the skills, tools and knowledge to make informed decisions financial decisions.”

Yvette added: “Managing money can be stressful and overwhelming but we want to prepare our learners to tackle money management in a positive and confident way, helping them to be more independent as they progress through education and into adult life.”

Following the project’s success, Yvette was invited to present at the Young Enterprise National Teacher Conference as an example of world-leading practice.

At the conference, Yvette shared insights into how Wargrave House School has supported young people with the greatest barriers to social mobility.

The schools place a huge emphasis on developing work experience opportunities to improve confidence and accessibility, using virtual reality technology to replicate real-world scenarios.

In collaboration with Liverpool Careers Hub, Wargrave House School offered learners virtual reality work experience. The specialist school worked with Remarkable Autism to highlight the process of job applications, interviews and completing a job.

The team at Wargrave House School even created its own shop, dubbed ‘The Wargrave Local’, and a bank called ‘Wargrave Exchange’, where learners collect tokens as a class and exchange them into ‘Wargrave wonga’ to buy items for sale.

The concept was established to help learners understand the value of money and how this translates in everyday situations.

All learners have access to the school’s bespoke shop and bank, with both run by learners from Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.

Headteacher at Wargrave House School, Mr Carl Glennon, commented: “We are thrilled to receive Young Enterprise Centre of Excellence status for our financial education programmes.

“At Wargrave House School, we are committed to ensuring our learners are prepared to make informed decisions about their future and confidently manage their money independently, helping them live happy and fulfilled lives through education and beyond.”