MoneySense – NatWest’s free and impartial financial education programme for 5-18s – is now in its 29th year and goes from strength to strength. To date, the programme has helped support the financial education of over 12million students, and our Young Money accredited resources are used in 63% of UK primary schools and 91% of secondary schools.
Alongside our vast collection of lesson plans, activities, online games, workshops, videos and more, this year we have also looked to the future, introducing exciting and innovative digital tools including augmented reality money games for 5-8s, an interactive digital escape room experience for 16-18s and a carbon footprint tracker to help secondary students understand the impact their spending has on the environment. Our suite of bank volunteer-supported workshops has also grown, including a series of three financial foundations workshops which work to ensure that students are leaving school equipped with the essential money skills and understanding in order to thrive.
Our resources also extend beyond the school setting. Our parents’ section has grown considerably this year, with a dedicated Wellbeing Toolkit launched for Mental Health Awareness Week in May. The toolkit includes video content featuring Dr Radha Modgil – a GP, author and children’s mental health specialist – who helped us tackle the topic of managing children’s money anxieties at a time when the cost of living crisis has put more pressure than ever on young minds. The toolkit also draws on the expertise of financial journalists, bestselling parenting authors and experienced teachers, and features articles to help parents navigate their own challenges as well as those of their children.
Likewise, our Young Adults’ hub has continued to grow with resources designed to support teenagers as they begin to live more independently, with informative features on essential money topics including taxes, independent living, inflation and positive thinking. The latter was inspired by the findings of The Prince’s Trust NatWest Youth Index 2023, which showed that 56% of young people say they always or often feel anxious, and 35% agreed that thinking about money depresses or stresses them. These findings reiterated the importance of creating resources and support for young people’s continued financial education.
To source feedback on our programme’s impact and help inform our future content this year we also implemented site exit surveys. 96% of teachers felt more confident after using MoneySense, with equally impressive rates for other audiences: 82% of over 16s, 85% of 5-11s, 85% of 12-16s and 80% of parents.
Our reach has also grown. Alongside reaching our 1 million students per year KPI, and growing site traffic by 7% YoY and page views per session 11% YoY, our paid social activity for Talk Money Week and Mental Health Awareness Week have achieved more than 6 million impressions.
MoneySense content is completely free, unbiased, and is designed to make it easier for teachers and parents to deliver valuable lessons that help young people make sense of money. Explore what MoneySense has to offer at mymoneysense.com.
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