Children from three Newcastle schools are aiming to battle their way into the boardroom of one of the North East’s best-known businesses.
The Year Five pupils from Wyndham Primary School in Kenton, Bridgewater Primary School in Benwell and Rainbird Primary School in Denton are all taking part in the seventh annual Newcastle Building Society Boardroom Charity Challenge.
The Challenge asks its young participants to develop business ideas that will both benefit their local community and also make a profit for a chosen good cause.
Eight schools from across the North East have signed up to take part in this year’s Challenge, with the winning team from each school being invited to present their ideas to a panel of senior business figures in the Society’s boardroom at the final of the event at the end of June.
A top prize of £1,000 will go to the winning team to help them put their plans into action, with Throckley Primary School coming out on top last year with their idea of hosting a carnival to raise money for the Batten Disease Family Association.
The Boardroom Charity Challenge is an ongoing financial education programme developed by Newcastle Building Society which aims to help young people learn about becoming more financially independent.
More than 2,000 young people from schools right across the region have so far taken part in the Challenge, which forms part of a six-week long curriculum based learning package that teaches core numeracy and literacy skills, enables pupils to learn more about how to manage money and helps them develop their IT and presentation skills.
The Boardroom Charity Challenge is an extension of the Society’s wider financial education commitment, which sees it providing free seminars to Society members who want to learn more about how to manage their money.
Andrew Haigh, chief executive at Newcastle Building Society, says: “Financial education has been a key focus for the Society for many years, and the Boardroom Charity Challenge gives us a wonderful opportunity every year to help hundreds of young people learn more about managing their money as well as possible.
“The energy, creativity and commitment of our young participants is always outstanding, and it’s great to know that many North East good causes have benefited directly from the ideas that they have developed and the recognition we’ve given to them.
“We’re excited to see what new ideas will come out of this year’s Challenge, and look forward to seeing the three teams from our home city in our boardroom later in the year.”
