Web resource will help youngsters learn how to handle money

Carmarthenshire Trading Standards Service officers are developing a web-based resource to encourage youngsters to learn online how to handle money wisely.
The department has a financial literacy programme called Synnwyr Arian – Money Sense, which it delivers in either English or Welsh to year six classes in county primary schools using specifically designed work books.
Trading Standards Officer Heidi Neil said: “We are currently developing a web-based resource to accompany or replace the work books. Pupils will be able to access it on laptops, iPads or Tablets for lessons. It will be more interactive for them.
“The web-resource will cover the same themes as the work book - employment, tax, budgeting, credit and consumer rights - but will allow us to cover these matters in greater depth in the allotted time.”
Synnwyr Arian, Money Sense consists of a series of five one-hour lessons where pupils are sequentially taken through the ‘concept of money’. Pupils are initially taught about the actual source of money, focussing upon different forms of employment, wages, payslips, and income tax.
Further sessions focus upon budgeting, the different methods of borrowing money, and the associated risks, finally finishing with information on consumers’ rights when purchasing faulty goods or services and how to get ‘value for money’.
County Council executive board member for public protection Cllr Jim Jones said: “This new project will give pupils the opportunity to learn about handling money sensibly and to do so interactively and enjoyably using modern technology.
“Synnwyr Arian- Money Sense is already a great success and this is the next step.”