STUDENTS AT Forest Gate Community School have bypassed the adults and taken charge of their own finances by opening up a bank during school hours.
The pupils open the Enterprise Bank fortnightly where they can open accounts, withdraw cash and apply for loans of up to �100.
Students can even check their earnings online.
Deputy Headteacher Suresh Singh thinks the school bank is ‘brilliant.’
He said: “The special thing about it is that students from other schools come in and they’re handling each other’s money so there’s a really good element of trust there.”
Teachers mentor 15 students to manage accounts and to decide who gets funding for their business ideas.
They meet with other schools such as Kingsford Community School and compete in savings and enterprise competitions for prizes including MP3 players and sports bags.
The scheme, run by award-winning charity MyBnk, teaches young people how to earn, manage, save, bank and borrow money.
MyBnk CEO Lily Lapenna said: “Young people care, they see for themselves in their own households the effects of the past three years of credit crunch, bank bail-outs and now the squeeze on public services - we have to educate to prevent it happening again.”
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