Eastmuir School: Money Week

During our whole school audit, parents commented that they did not always feel that their children were able to use money in real-life situations. Handling money is a difficult concept for our pupils. It was decided to make this an action point on our school improvement plan. Taking part in Money Week was an ideal opportunity to begin our focus on this important life skill. A variety of activities were planned to enable pupils to become more aware of the purpose and value of money.

Every child designed and produced their own 'money box'. These are being used in different ways, including saving money for charity (to sponsor an orang-utan) and games in the class such as 'guess how much' and sorting coins.

To allow pupils to become more familiar with coins, each teacher planned a variety of activities including producing art work, interactive money games on the computer and Smartboard, a range of board games, reading stories about money, show and tell, comparing foreign coins, and studying the history of money.

To give pupils the chance to use money in real-life situations, a gymnastics display was planned for parents. Primary 7 pupils organised the entrance fee, counted the money and participated in discussions as to how to spend the money raised. It was decided to buy gym kit bags for the whole school.

We also had a book fair and a sandwich shop on Friday afternoon, which was a chance for the whole school to participate. Primary 6 organised the Book Fair and Primary 7 made the sandwiches from ingredients that were kindly donated by Sainsbury's. Both classes decided how much to charge, made labels and sorted out their float, and were responsible for selling the goods, handling the money and giving change as appropriate.

Every pupil was able to take part in these activities and experienced using money in a real-life situation.

The impact from Money Week will continue. We are planning to have a focus on money each term. Pupils now have an increased motivation to handle money. Staff have had the opportunity to assess pupils using money and plan follow-up activities accordingly.