PRIMARY NEWS
The Cumberland partners with FutureJam to boost children’s money skills
The Cumberland has partnered with skills educator FutureJam to deliver a financial literacy programme to primary schools. Pupils in the building society’s operating areas of Cumbria, Lancashire and South West Scotland will learn the essential life skill of how to manage money.
FutureJam, a community interest company, delivers interactive ‘MoneyJam’ workshops to pupils aged 7 to 11 with the aim of setting young people up for success in their later lives.
Claire Deekes, Chief Customer Officer at The Cumberland said, “We have been delivering a financial literacy programme in local primary schools for a number of years, and we are delighted to continue this work through our new partnership with FutureJam and their fun interactive MoneyJam workshops.
“Learning about budgeting and saving in real life situations is really important to give youngsters confidence as they grow up. By developing these skills, hopefully we can help them to take control and work towards their aims and goals in life.”
Children as young as 9 enjoyed a MoneyJam lesson at Alston Primary School recently where they learned how to budget and how to make decisions about what they can afford. They took part in an exercise to plan a school party where they had to decide how to spend a £100 budget.
“I loved this!” said Laila, aged 11. “It’s great that we are learning about money and how to spend it and how to look after it. I learned not to always spend all of your money. And have a reasonable budget.”
Sasha, 9, said: “It was really good. It’s really encouraging to use when you are older.”
Alston primary school teacher Judy Humphrey said the workshop had engaged pupils. “It is a really good activity to do with children at this age when some of them are starting to get some more freedom. The earlier they can start the better,” she said.
The Cumberland is sponsoring the delivery of 60 workshops in 30+ primary schools located in and around its branch communities, with each school receiving 2 sessions.
The aim is to help children build confidence in understanding money, making choices and developing positive financial habits. There will also be six parent financial literacy sessions and 16 teacher training sessions. Cumberland colleagues will also be involved in delivering the workshops, and leadership engagement events will be hosted in schools. FutureJam delivers life-skills education in schools on employability, digital skills and wellbeing as well as financial literacy. Eleni Varon, the FutureJam facilitator who led the session at Alston school, said teaching children how to think about budgeting and how to have conversations about what you can and can’t afford is an essential life skill: “Hopefully normalising the topic means a new generation of young people will feel a lot more in control and comfortable with having these conversations and making these kinds of decisions,” she said. “Transferable life skills which you can bring to different job roles and careers are very important.”
Great Learners Trust primaries achieve Parent- Friendly Schools accreditation
Parent Participation.
Every school in Great Learners Trust, an all-primary multi-academy trust in Buckinghamshire, has achieved Parentkind’s Parent-Friendly Schools accreditation recognising the Trust-wide commitment to working in partnership with families.
The accreditation from Parentkind – the UK’s largest parent charity responsible for raising £120 million annually to support families – saw each of the Trust’s 11 schools’ policies, procedures and practices demonstrate a good standard of parent participation following evidence- based assessment. To achieve this standard, all schools were measured against 485 different criteria under the distinctive Blueprint Framework for
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www.education-today.co.uk
Five years of evidence-based research have led to the UK’s most comprehensive framework for parent participation. In partnership with Canterbury Christ Church University, Parentkind developed five drivers and 25 initiatives spanning ethos and behaviours, two-way communication, home-based learning, involvement in school life, and community partnerships, around which schools are assessed. “Our accreditation measures a school’s parent participation practice against the evidence-based, best practice of the Blueprint Framework to recognise excellence,” explained Rachael Smith, Service Lead for Parent- Friendly Schools and Parenting Language at Parentkind. “We are excited to work alongside Great Learners Trust to evolve their partnership with parents. Every school passed the Standard accreditation, demonstrating a commitment to best policies and practices that support parents’ participation in their children’s learning. More than anything, the school leaders demonstrated care for the families in their communities. “As well as completing the accreditation process, all schools are committed to membership of our community, which supports an ongoing journey of improvement. We want to congratulate all Great Learners Trust schools on this impressive start to their collaboration with Parentkind and we can’t wait to learn more about how parents, carers and guardians and schools are working together to improve their children’s lives. In addition, Great Missenden Church of England School is now working towards Parentkind’s Parent-Friendly Schools Gold Award assessment. The school has already secured the Leading Parent Partnership Award, demonstrating particularly strong practice in parental engagement and communication, from Optimus Education.
May 2026
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