13 March 2012
Rewarding Money Skills
How good are your money skills? Could you ever be a victim of a scam? If times got rough would you fall prey to a loan shark? These are some of the questions and issues that college students the length and breadth of Wales are getting to grips with as part of the Barclays Money Skills Weeks throughout March and April.
Working with 13 colleges in Wales and in partnership with ColegauCymru / CollegesWales, Barclays Money Skills Weeks is an initiative designed to strengthen students’ financial skills and knowledge, reduce their financial stress, and increase their chances of achieving their goals in life.
A wide range of practical and useful activities on managing money include: ‘Small Savings Big Rewards’, ‘Style on a Budget’, ‘Dealing with Debt’, ‘Keeping Up with my Bills’, ‘Taste Test’, budgeting for living independently, the value of keeping a personal budget, and spotting scams.
Learning important life-skills such as managing money can often appear daunting and too emotionally charged to fully understand. So it’s a real pleasure to know that the Barclays Money Skills Weeks also has a creative and fun element. The ‘Top tips’ competition asks students to provide great money-saving tips. And a photographic competition invites students to take a photograph based on the theme ‘My money style’.
Chief Executive of ColegauCymru / CollegesWales, John Graystone, said: “Knowing how to budget and how to save are critically important life skills that students need in order to be able to reduce financial stress and stay focused on their education goals. I’m delighted that 13 of Wales further education colleges are providing these opportunities for their learners this year. In addition, I’m sure that presenting such a serious topic using fun and creative elements will help make sure the money management messages stick.”
Winners of the Wales competitions will go forward to the UK finals with a hope of winning an experience of Barclays headquarters in Canary Wharf.
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Contact: Sylvia Davies on 029 2052 8384 or 07968 771913.
Notes to editors:
1. ColegauCymru / CollegesWales was previously known as fforwm. It is a national educational charity that represents all 20 further education (FE) colleges and institutions in Wales. Its mission is to raise the profile of further education with key decision-makers to improve opportunities for learners in Wales. For further information about ColegauCymru / CollegesWales, and the colleges it represents, visit www.colegaucymru.ac.uk or www.collegeswales.ac.uk
2. Barclays Money Skills ‘weeks’ is an initiative designed to strengthen students’ financial skills and knowledge, reduce their financial stress, and increase their chances of achieving their education goals.
3. Building skills for the future: The programme will be delivered to more than 160 further education (FE) colleges, reaching more than 100,000 students across the UK.
The interactive week-long events are designed to be entertaining and informative. Activities are based on topics that interest students, such as food, fashion, family and independent living. Students are given the opportunity to build crucial skills for the future and gain knowledge of personal finance issues and controlling their budget.
The programme is delivered in partnership with the National Skills Academy for Financial Services, together with ColegauCymru / CollegesWales, Scotland’s Colleges, and the Education Guidance Service for Adults in Northern Ireland.
4. All participating colleges are supported by small grants and from the business community, led by Barclays volunteers who will volunteer to help colleges with the planning and/or delivery of activities during Barclays Money Skills Weeks.
5. The 13 colleges participating in Money Skills Weeks 2012 are:
- Gower College Swansea (5 March)
- Deeside College (12 March)
- Merthyr Tydfil College (12 March)
- Coleg Ceredigion (12 March)
- Neath Port Talbot College (12 March)
- Coleg Powys (12 March)
- Yale College Wrexham (19 March)
- Pembrokeshire College (19 March)
- St David’s Catholic College (19 March)
- The College Ystrad Mynach (26 March)
- Cardiff and Vale College (Cardiff and Barry sites) (26 March)
- Coleg Sir Gâr (23 April)
- Coleg Llandrillo Cymru (23 April)