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Important update from TheSchoolRun

For the past 13 years, TheSchoolRun has been run by a small team of mums working from home, dedicated to providing quality educational resources to primary school parents. Unfortunately, rising supplier costs and falling revenue have made it impossible for us to continue operating, and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close. The good news: We’ve arranged for another educational provider to take over many of our resources. These will be hosted on a new portal, where the content will be updated and expanded to support your child’s learning.

What this means for subscribers:

  • Your subscription is still active, and for now, you can keep using the website as normal — just log in with your usual details to access all our articles and resources*.
  • In a few months, all resources will move to the new portal. You’ll continue to have access there until your subscription ends. We’ll send you full details nearer the time.
  • As a thank you for your support, we’ll also be sending you 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep.

A few changes to be aware of:

  • The Learning Journey weekly email has ended, but your child’s plan will still be updated on your dashboard each Monday. Just log in to see the recommended worksheets.
  • The 11+ weekly emails have now ended. We sent you all the remaining emails in the series at the end of March — please check your inbox (and spam folder) if you haven’t seen them. You can also follow the full programme here: 11+ Learning Journey.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for being part of our journey it’s been a privilege to support your family’s learning.

*If you need to reset your password, it will still work as usual. Please check your spam folder if the reset email doesn’t appear in your inbox.

9 ways to teach your children the value of money

Piggy bank
Every child can benefit from learning some valuable lessons about finance. We suggest simple strategies to help your primary-school child understand money, whatever their age.

1. Introduce money early

Familiarise your children with money early on by collecting coins and engaging in activities such as looking at the different coins together, practising naming the coins and sorting the coins by colour or value.

2. Remind them – money doesn’t grow on trees

When children start to become aware of money, it’s often a good time to explain to them where it comes from. Many children think it comes from Mum and Dad’s pockets and don’t realise that it has been earned through hard work and that you can only spend what you earn.

3. Give pocket money

Pocket money is a great way of teaching kids the value of money and introducing the concepts of earning and saving. Pocket money can either be initiated as a set amount of money a week or you can give your children the opportunity to earn money through chores such as 20p for tidying their room or unloading the dishwasher. The trick with pocket money is to be consistent. If a child runs out of money during the week don’t give them any more as they need to learn that once it’s gone...it’s gone!

4. Make saving a habit

It’s good to get children into the habit of saving from a young age. This way when they are older and need to save for a car or a holiday themselves, this skill will come naturally. Encourage them to save by talking about the things they want to save for, such as a new toy or a bike.

5. Play money games

Many young children love make believe games. Encourage them to play shopping games where you give them a certain amount of money and ask them to select items which they believe they could buy for this much money, e.g. £2 could buy them a pencil case or a magazine. This will help to familiarise them with the value of certain items.

6. Take them shopping

When in shops with your children, point out the price of items to them. Again this will help to familiarise them with the cost of certain items and different brands.

7. Distinguish luxuries and necessities

Highlight the difference between luxury and necessity items. Necessities are things such as food and toiletries. Luxuries are goods such as computer games, DVDs or TVs which cost more and can only be bought once the necessities have been taken care of.

8. Introduce the concept of banking

Once your child has a grasp on the value of money and the importance of saving, explain how adults use banks to store their money and to save. Open a bank account in your child’s name where they can deposit pocket money and Christmas money. Encourage them to review their account and watch their savings grow until they have enough to buy something they want.

9. Explain debit and credit cards

A debit card is a way of accessing your money held in the bank so that you don’t have to carry around lots of cash and coins. A credit card is a way of borrowing money that you have to pay back. Ensure that they understand that cash machines don’t give out “magic money” – it’s money that you’ve earned.

 

Help your child learn about money: financial education resources for kids

The Money Advice Service has a special section on its website called You, Your Kids & Money which offers free, impartial advice and tips for parents.

The free interactive financial education programme from UK charity MyBnk includes finances home learning courses and activities for KS1, KS2 and secondary school children.