Hard work add ups for Felpham students

Felpham Community College has been made a centre of excellence in personal finance.

The Felpham Way school was given the My Money award by the Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg) – a national charity organisation.

The award recognises the high quality of personal finance education across the whole school. Advanced maths teacher Margaret Ballantyne, who co-ordinated the bid, said she was extremely proud of all the hard work pupils had done.

“We have been working towards this award for the past two years, and the pupils have all responded really well,” she said.

“It has been about giving students the information they need to help them make more informed choices when it comes to money matters.

“With the older students we have looked at issues like moving out of home. By getting them to look at rent prices and bills we have shown how expensive it is, and how important budgets are.

“Work has been done cross-circular, so it has not all been about maths. We have had things like after-school workshops, and persuasive language sessions.”

Year 10 pupil James McKenzie won the Arun Enterprise Challenge, and found his lessons in personal finance helpful.

“I have found everything we have done really useful and it did help me in the Arun Enterprise Challenge,” said the 15-year-old.

After being given the theme of summer for the challenge, James designed cupcakes and a hamper with a Wimbledon theme.

He said: “Nothing says summer more than Wimbledon, so I created cupcakes and a hamper. The hamper was designed around the royal box and when you opened it the Wimbledon theme tune was played. The cupcakes all had little champagne bottles on top.”

Alison Terry, West Sussex consultant for pfeg, and Gary Millner, pfeg’s director of operations, presented student representatives with a plaque at a special event last Tuesday.

Mr Millner said: “This is a very special award. It recognises a lot of hard work and achievement.”