SAVINGS CLUBS

Give children practical experience of saving and making decisions about money.

Our Savings Clubs are currently a collaboration with local credit unions who are keen to help us develop community links and strengthen the financial status of those who live in their area.

WHAT KIDS SAY:

WHAT TEACHERS SAY:

    1. To give every child an opportunity to open a bank account

    2. To allow children to safely experience the benefits of saving and delayed gratification

    3. To cement classroom learning about money and finance

    4. To encourage parents to support their children in developing good money habits

    1. New users (or their guardians) register on the online platform, currently Incuto, which links with the local banking provider.

    2. The school formally verifies the identity of each applicant against information held by the school management system.

    3. An account is created at the local banking provider for each registered and verified user.

    4. Schools can begin offering weekly saving sessions.

    5. One adult “treasurer” at the school oversees the online platform, the status of all users, and can open and close saving sessions.

    6. Children/savers bring a deposit in cash.

    7. Several student “cashiers” enter the deposit/withdrawal data into physical passbooks and onto the online platform during the saving sessions.

    8. The online platform creates a record of the unique account IDs for each user and the amount deposited, as recorded by the student cashiers and verified by a member of staff.

    9. The adult treasurer closes the session after verifying the final sums of money.

    10. After the session, the adult treasurer ‘banks’ the money on the platform, confirming the session has taken place and informing the banking provider of how the total cash deposit will arrive.

    11. The money is either transferred by BACS or physically deposited at a local post office.

    12. The banking provider uses the record submitted during the session to correctly allocate the deposited funds to each user’s account.

    1. Hands on experience of money for children

    2. Safe opportunities for children to practice saving

    3. The chance for students to serve as “cashiers” and learn the responsibility of handling money

    4. A physical, real world extension of financial education resources

    5. A practical system to model good money habits

    1. Schools sign up to our LifeSavers financial education programme.

    2. Schools are encouraged to spend a term introducing students to financial literacy by using one or more of our LifeSavers resources.

    3. LifeSavers brokers a formal partnership between the school and the financial provider.

    4. LifeSavers provides training to school staff and student cashiers in using the online platform and running the club.

    5. Schools generate a BIG LAUNCH event, encouraging all students to participate.

    6. LifeSavers provides ongoing support to schools as they run the savings club

“Children are keen to save for things. Many are saving for the year six residential trip so their parents won’t find it hard to come up with the lump sum. Lots withdraw money for their summer holiday.”
— Gillian Fassioms, All Saints Catholic Primary School, Bootle

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