House builder Miller Homes West Midlands is joining forces with schools in the region to teach children the importance of saving from an early age.
“The main objective is to ensure our younger generations have an understanding of money and saving and how this knowledge can help in the future,” said Pat Kimber, sales manager for Miller Homes West Midlands.
“We continually come across house hunters desperate to buy a home but they just don’t have enough for a deposit. There are ways in which we can help but the stringent requirements from the majority of lenders makes it much easier to get a mortgage if they have a substantial deposit.”
The ‘Save Your Pennies and Build Your Future’ campaign is aimed at children aged from nine to eleven and looks at the average rate of pocket money which, according to the Halifax, is £6.06 a week for children in the West Midlands.
It includes an interactive presentation by Miller Homes that asks the school children to decide what they would do with their pocket money, spend it straight away, save it in their piggy bank or deposit it into a savings account.
The presentation also talks about the cost of items relevant to today’s children, such as a packet of crisps or a mobile phone, and how these costs compare to the bigger purchases in life such as a car or house.
Kingsway Primary in Gloucester is the first school in the region to receive the presentation and deputy head-teacher Jennie Woolhead said the youngsters have learnt a lot.
She said: “It is extremely important that children learn about the value of money and how by understanding the concept of saving now, it will greatly help them later on in life. We were pleased to deliver the campaign with Miller Homes, making sure we covered aspects of the curriculum from maths to personal, social and economic education.
“The children really enjoyed the presentation which was fun and informative. It really helped them understand the value of items from a simple packet of crisps to a major purchase such as a house.”
Children also received an activity pack to continue learning in the classroom and Miller Homes moneybox houses to kick-start their savings.
Pat continued: “Our ethos is to fully engage with the local communities in the areas in which we build. It is with this in mind we have developed this initiative to help educate our future generations as to the value of money and how this translates into aspects of the national curriculum and life in general.
“We are delighted the children found our interactive session very useful and we look forward to delivering it to many more schools across the region. I’m sure we’ll have the support of parents encouraging their children to save for the future.”
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