Kettering school joins financial education centre of excellence

The news comes as part of a ground-breaking partnership between the UK’s leading financial education charity pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group, part of Young Enterprise) and Santander.

Santander is supporting the development of Kettering Buccleuch Academy to achieve pfeg centre of excellence status in the next year, turning it into a beacon of best practice in teaching children and young people about money.

The school is one of 89 across the country set to benefit from the programme, 42 of which are funded by Santander.

It will be supported in sharing its new expertise with other schools in the local area to benefit the wider educational community.

Headteacher at Kettering Buccleuch Academy James Bowkett said: “We know just how important it will be for our students to manage their money well throughout their lives.

“These skills don’t come automatically – they need to be taught, and as it is our responsibility to prepare them for adult life we believe embedding financial education into our school curriculum is a necessity.

“We are pleased to be working with pfeg to become a centre of excellence in this crucial area, for the benefit of our students.”

The announcement means that the school will work with pfeg’s educational specialists to create a detailed programme of financial education for their students and integrate the teaching of personal finance into the school curriculum. Teachers will be assisted in the delivery of effective personal finance lessons and learning activities, drawing on the charity’s 14 years experience of aiding educators in the schools across the UK.

Chief executive of Young Enterprise Michael Mercieca said: “We are delighted that Kettering Buccleuch Academy has joined our centre of excellence programme through our partnership with Santander.

“The work that staff will be doing with our educational specialists over the coming months will be of enormous benefit to students, with financial education set to be firmly embedded into the curriculum.

“Our aim is to ensure that all students enter adult life with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to manage money well.”

Branch manager at Santander Kettering Roseanne Davies said: “At Santander we believe it is important for everyone to have good basic money management skills, but particularly young people who are encountering money earlier than ever.

“We recognise that teaching young people requires specialist delivery and the Centres of Excellence programme offers a tailored programme using materials that have been designed by education experts that complement the existing curriculum.”