Recycle Week – 17-23 June

Recycle Week is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year. This year’s theme is: “Recycling – at home and away” and will focus on metals, plastics, packaging, textiles and food waste.

Primary schools generate 45kg of waste per pupil per academic year and secondary schools 22kg per pupil per academic year.

Schools can take the week as a chance to look at how their school can reduce its waste and also up their recycling. It’s also a great way to raise funds using one of the various recycling companies that will collect clothes, DVDs, and printer cartridges.

Young people lack financial skills

Young people are entering adult life with “dangerous gaps” in their financial knowledge, according to a new survey.

Under 25s are showing worrying gaps in their financial knowledge relating to bank statements, overdrafts and interest on loans, according to a new survey from Barclays and charity pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group) to mark the beginning of My Money Week, which runs June 3 to June 9.

Of those surveyed, 42pc could not interpret the difference between being in credit and overdrawn on a bank account statement, while more than a third did not know the correct meaning of APR in relation to interest charges on loans or credit cards.

Around one in eight (13pc) did not know what an overdraft was, with 8pc thinking it was a low-cost one-off loan from a bank.

Tracey Bleakley, pfeg chief executive, said: “It is clear that many young people are entering adult life with dangerous gaps in their financial knowledge that could lead them into serious financial difficulty.
“These findings underline the need for all schools to teach their pupils about personal finance, to equip them with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to manage their money well.”

Financial education will likely become compulsory in schools across England for the first time next year, following its inclusion in the new draft curriculum.

Personal finance is already taught in schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Money Advice Service released research last month which found that most children’s financial habits have already been formed by the time they reach seven years old.

It published a report compiled by behaviour experts at Cambridge University, which found that most seven-year-olds have already grasped how to count out money and know that it is used to buy goods. They have also worked out what it means to earn money and what an income is.

It now costs £51,000 to raise a child – and that’s not including school fees!

Parents will spend more than £51,000 on their child from birth to the age of 18, a study has revealed.
Clothes, shoes, after-school clubs and presents make up around half the total.

Then there is also money spent on toys, books, gadgets and haircuts, which pushes the cost up to £2,775 for each child every year.

Driving lessons and help with buying a first car add £1,648 to the figure, which totals £51,575.

Andy Oldham, managing director of Quidco.com, which commissioned the study, said: ‘Everyone expects children to leave a dent in your pocket, but it’s staggering to actually see the figures in front of you.

Students turn to gambling and medical trials to fund university

Survey of 2,300 students finds 80% do not have enough money to live on, with one in five turning to gambling to find extra funds

Students are resorting to high-risk strategies to fund the ever-increasing cost of living, according to a survey by money advice website Save the Student.

In an attempt to get hold of extra cash one in five students has turned to gambling with their limited funds, while one in four said they would consider selling their body for medical trials or take a job in the adult entertainment industry.

A small proportion (2%) said they would consider contacting a payday loan company to access cash.

The survey of 2,332 students found that living costs had soared over the last 12 months, with 80% of respondents worried about having enough money to live on.

Does money really talk?

‘My Money Week’ takes place from the 3^rd to the 9^th of June and schools from all over the UK are gearing up for a week full of jam-packed events and initiatives to help young people learn about financial education.

Former private banker Vivi Friedgut is the author of Money Smarter, a family guide to finances, and welcomes the initiative but suggests that financial education at school should be supported at home.

Vivi says: “Parents are the most influential force in any child’s life; both by what they do and what they say. Financial education in schools is crucial but it complements what is learnt at home – it cannot replace it.

“Since I’ve become involved in teaching financial education to children & students, it’s apparent that many have not had ‘the money talk’ or been engaged in financial conversations with their parents; which is surprising, as critical aspects of responsible money management are best learnt in a real life situations.

“Understanding instant gratification, appreciating the difference between needs and wants and comprehending the consequences of decisions can be heightened by observing parents, as opposed to solely within the confines of a classroom.”

My Money Week is hosted by pfeg who provide schools with free resources, lesson plans, activity packs, competitions, national challenges, one to one consultancy support and a dedicated website for the financial education initiative .

The likes of The Saturdays, Sir Chris Hoy and Tinchy Strider have previously encouraged people to take part by being ambassadors and setting challenges for students.

Schools have hosted fashion shows and fetes, taken part in gardening projects, debates, young peoples’ parliaments, peer mentoring projects, community economy projects and used maths, English, drama, PSHE education, citizenship, enterprise and geography to deliver excellent financial education.

Two in three pupils fear university costs: They worry about living expenses and not being able to earn while studying

Pupils are worried about living expenses and not being able to earn while studying

Two-thirds of children are worried about the cost of going to university even though they think it will help them ‘get on in life’, a new survey has revealed.

They are concerned about living expenses and not being able to earn while they study while those from middle-class backgrounds are most troubled by £9,000-a-year tuition fees.

The Ipsos MORI poll for the Sutton Trust surveyed 2,595 11 to 16-year-olds.

It classified them as being in families of high, medium or low affluence based on questions about their households.

It found that students from the least affluent families (23 per cent) were more likely to cite cost as the biggest consideration when deciding whether to go onto higher education than their richer counterparts (14 per cent).

However, middle-class youngsters – who miss out on means tested maintenance grants – are most affected by tuition fees (30 per cent) when worrying about all the costs.

This compared to 28 per cent of rich students and 26 per cent of poorer ones who agreed that fees were the ‘biggest concern’.

Overall, 65 per cent of students surveyed were worried about university finances – 28 per cent cited tuition fees; 19 per cent, the cost of living and 18 per cent, not earning while studying.

Only seven per cent said they were not troubled by the cost of going to university.

Pupils ‘name-dropping their mothers in short stories’

It’s a generation with unprecedented access to pop stars, actors, sportsmen and TV presenters. But it appears that today’s children still look much closer to home when it comes to finding inspiration.

An analysis of more than 90,000 short stories written by under-13s from across Britain has found that their mothers feature more heavily in their work than any other character.

Research by Oxford University Press found that mums were “far and away” the most popular object of children’s stories this year.

According to figures, the word – in its various forms and regional variations such as “mom” and “mam” – was featured more than 115,000 times.

Mothers comfortably outscored fathers, with figures showing that dads barely crept into the top 15 most featured terms.

However, the study showed that fathers were often portrayed in the “action man” role in several of the best-written stories – fighting aliens, blowing things up and even building a time machine.