Personal Finance Teacher of the Year – overall winners who each get £6,000 for their schools
Winner (primary school)
Yasmeen Abbas, St Silas CofE Primary Academy, Blackburn, Lancashire
Yasmeen has been teaching personal finance at St Silas for the last seven years, working with Brian Souter at DebtAware Money Skills for Life to develop a programme of study for the children in Upper Key Stage 2 designed to build a strong understanding of personal finance.
The programme outlines the difference between necessities and luxuries; explaining to pupils why budgeting is important and the importance of avoiding unnecessary debt. She also teaches the pupils about the dangers of gambling and how social media and clever advertising can affect their decisions about money.
The judges commended the ‘take home tasks’ Yasmeen gives her pupils, which help facilitate more honest and open conversations between children and their parents about money. She believes this is crucial for helping pupils understand why parents may prioritise bill-paying over the newest game console, for example. Similarly, the initiative of creating peer-to-peer ‘Money Mentors’ impressed the judges, helping pupils learn from their peers and build their confidence on the various aspects of personal finance.
