CROSSHOUSE Primary School in East Kilbride has become the first school in Scotland to be accredited as a Centre of Excellence in Financial Education. The school has been supported through this process by Young Enterprise (YE) Scotland and an international bank, in partnership with Young Enterprise UK.

The Centres of Excellence programme provides a set of professional standards to support schools to deliver practical, effective and sustainable financial education which meets its pupils’ needs and priorities. Crosshouse Primary joins a network of over 150 Centres of Excellence already accredited in England and Wales since 2014.

Crosshouse achieved the required Centre for Excellence standard following the school’s commitment to a progressive financial education programme, which against the backdrop of the pandemic has been created to support its young pupils and in turn its local community by involving parents and carers, teachers and other partners.

In particular, the school was commended for the way in which it engaged its pupils both through its Pupil Financial Education Group, which discussed ideas and resources, as well as with its financial mascots, Freddie and Frankie.

Crosshouse’s portfolio of evidence was successfully assessed by Young Money, Young Enterprise UK’s financial education brand. Having achieved such a high standard of financial education provision across the school, Crosshouse has committed to sharing the good practice it has developed with other local schools whilst continuing to receive support from YE Scotland over the next three years.

Jackie Noon, Crosshouse Primary’s Class Teacher & Financial Education Champion, said:

“We feel it is vitally important for our children to develop a broad range of skills, knowledge and attitudes to thrive in a financially evolving society and to prepare them for the responsibility of having to manage their own money.

“We’ve loved how the children have embraced the programme and we are thrilled to be a Centre of Excellence for Financial Education.”

Marie Leck, a School Delivery Manager for YE Scotland, has been working closely with Crosshouse Primary over the past year. She said:

“We are delighted for Crosshouse Primary and congratulate the teaching staff for achieving the centre of excellence status – the first in Scotland. All their hard work and commitment has paid off. They created a dynamic and engaging financial education programme, which recognised the impact of money matters on both numeracy and social well-being. I hope it will be a beacon to others to take up a Centre of Excellence programme their school.”