Schools sought to become Financial Education 'Centres of Excellence'

Charity Young Enterprise and St. James’s Place (SJP) are joining forces to support the accreditation of schools looking to become Centres of Excellence (CoE) for financial education.
 
Wealth management company SJP will be sponsoring 21 education providers, with seven each year over the next three years, mainly in deprived areas across the UK. They will be helped on their journey to progress to becoming accredited CoEs for financial education through a consultant from Young Enterprise, a subsidiary of Young Enterprise, sponsored by SJP to work one to one with the school.
 
The first three schools to be sponsored by SJP towards accreditation are in the Manchester area, Liverpool, and the South-East of England. The first education providers to be confirmed, supported by Young Enterprise and the wider SJP community, are Tonge Moor Primary Academy in Bolton, Greater Manchester; Whitefield Primary School in Liverpool; and Moor House School & College in Oxted, a special education school in Surrey.
 
In addition, SJP will be forming four further partnerships in its first year with schools in Swindon, London, Solihull, and Leeds, with schools to be confirmed in 2023.
 
SJP’s partnership with Young Enterprise aims to support education providers – including primary and secondary schools - on their accreditation journey, providing academic staff with the tools and resources needed to teach financial literacy and help build the financial confidence of students across the UK.
 
SJP employees and advisers will play a key role in this partnership, supporting Young Enterprise consultants with the delivery of financial education workshops, work experience opportunities, teacher training and mentoring. The partnership aims to drive a stronger financial education experience, improving financial literacy and building a supportive relationship between educators and students.
 
Vicki Foster, Division Director, Responsible Business, St. James’s Place, says: “At St. James’s Place we are committed to being a leading responsible business. This means creating a positive impact through committing to help improve financial education for young people. By creating lessons plans and facilitating financial education training sessions for teachers, we are taking practical steps that are fundamental to developing and expanding financial literacy across the UK.

“With the backing of Young Enterprise supporting the Centre of Excellence programme, we are helping to build an accessible financial education programme within schools. The community-based programme is supported by local SJP Partners and employees from our wider business, and we hope that as the programme develops, each of the Centres of Excellence will share their learnings with others and improve access to financial education across the board.”

Sharon Davies, CEO of Young Enterprise, comments: “Financial education has the power to transform lives. Managing and understanding your finances is a skill that stays with you throughout your life. At Young Enterprise, we are excited to partner with St James’s Place to fund 21 Centres of Excellence throughout the UK to provide young people with access to a meaningful financial education, while simultaneously building financially capable communities.
 
“We look forward to working alongside their regional teams to foster long-term and sustainable relationships with local schools; and empowering young people to discover, develop and celebrate their skills and potential, while also positively impacting the communities they live in.”