Member Article

10 local schools commit to furthering students’ financial literacy as wealth management firm rolls out workshops

Equilibrium Financial Planning, based in Cheshire, has announced that it is rolling out a new series of workshops for primary schools, as it reinforces its commitment to bettering the financial education of children in the UK. The workshops are based on Equilibrium’s financial literacy resource which it created in 2017, titled Libby’s Big Aeroplane Adventure. The resource is a book which tells the story of central character Libby, who flies from Toronto to Manchester to visit her grandparents, with the family having a financial budget to work to during her stay. The book – which has had nearly 3,300 children engage with it since its launch – aims to boost children’s understanding of finances and numeracy in a fun way, and help teachers plan lessons. The workshops will be hosted by former headmaster David Evans, who was also involved in the creation of the book. David has previously given evidence to a Parliamentary Inquiry into the importance of teaching financial skills to young people. Debbie Jukes, partner and head of client care at Equilibrium, said: “Since launching Libby in 2017, we’ve had a great response to the book. Creating and delivering workshops based off its content has been a brilliant way to further expand on the teachings in the book and help give students a more rounded, thorough understanding of financial literacy. “The importance of equipping our younger population with financial capability really can’t be overstated. A 2018 study from the UCL Institute of Education and the University of Cambridge found that the UK has one of the lowest levels of financial literacy for OECD countries, with one in three adults in the UK and Northern Ireland unable to work out the correct change from a shopping trip. “The most effective way of tackling this problem is by introducing the concept of financial wellbeing early on in children’s lives, teaching the importance of personal finance from the jump.
“We created the book based on the requirements of the national curriculum – so whilst it helps children with their numeracy in a fun way, it also helps the teachers from a lesson planning point of view.” During the pandemic, Equilibrium turned Libby’s Big Aeroplane Adventure into a free, downloadable e-book, in order to assist families and caregivers who were home-schooling children.
Gary Graham, a teacher who joined a previous workshop, described the session as “very enjoyable and informative” and said that it “reinforced the importance of children understanding financial situations”. Gary added, “It was well presented and has a really thorough approach as to how schools can lead the way in supporting children in this area.” Founded in 1995, Equilibrium is headquartered in Cheshire and manages £1bn of assets for over 1,000 families.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emily Hallinan .