FAQs
What is Money Minds?
At Yorkshire Building Society we’re here to Help Financial Wellbeing Happen. As part of our mission to educate children and young people on how to manage their money and get the best start in the career they want, we’ve created Money Minds. We’re committed to help build the financial wellbeing of our communities, starting with laying great foundations for our young people to understand money, finances and all things careers.
Money Minds is an innovative education platform aimed at young people aged 11–19 that builds on our existing financial education and career guidance programmes. It delivers bitesize, interactive content guides to inspire young people to become knowledgeable and confident about money and careers, helping them to navigate some of the challenges along the way.
They learn all about budgeting in the real world, lending and borrowing, and the complexities of relationships and money. It also helps to define what employers really want. It'll help them begin to understand what they’ll need to do to get the lifestyle, career and salary they want in the future.
All content is aligned to the National Curriculum in England and has been developed in partnership with teachers. To help the conversation go that step further, Money Minds also equips teachers, parents and carers to tackle the big questions, with follow-up materials.
Who is Money Minds aimed at?
Money Minds is aimed at young people aged 11–19 to support their journey towards greater financial wellbeing. There’s a real need for engaging, bitesize, curriculum-aligned, materials that focus on financial and employability skills.
Money Minds helps young people to delve into key topics such as what employers want and relationships and money through gamification and interactive content. They’re directed to content that’s relevant for their age range, so that learning is in step with their personal and educational journeys.
What about children under 11 years old?
For children in primary education, our Society colleagues volunteer their time to deliver in-person financial education sessions. Since 2016, we’ve been supporting local schools with the delivery of four key sessions within the 5-11 age range: Wants and Needs, Keeping Money Safe, Project Party, and Vacation Venture.
Schools and colleagues have told us that our lesson-based approach fosters decision-making skills, team-working abilities, and practical maths knowledge, as well as improving financial literacy.
If you’d like to book a session for your local school, you can contact your local branch or email community@ybs.co.uk.
How do you support adults in this space?
We’re investing over £1 million into our communities to help us deliver programmes that reach the right people at the right time with the right support. That includes our partnership with Citizens Advice within some of our Yorkshire branches and our charity partnership with Age UK delivering the Building Better Lives programme. There’s also digital skills training to help people from ethnically diverse backgrounds become more employable in Bradford.
We have a range of online support too. Money MOT supports working age adults on their saving journey and Money Movement helps people make informed decisions about retirement planning. Through tailored guidance, top tips and useful tools, people can begin to take the steps they need to become financially resilient. Whether building a savings pot for a rainy day or making plans for retirement, our online hubs provide straight-talking information for a brighter financial future.
Through our fantastic colleagues, we’re also developing workshops for community groups, employees and employers to tackle topics such as fraud and scams, being financially resilient for adults. Look out for more information from your local branch over the coming months.
How do you support parents/carers/teachers?
Alongside all the Money Minds materials created for young people aged 11-19, we have a whole host of guides for parents, carers and teachers.
For parents and carers, we’re helping you understand the materials your child has been working through and how you can take those conversations further. Our topic guides offer simple activities and questions you can go through individually or as a family. They also share helpful information or places to turn if you, or others you know, need further support within the topic area your child is covering.
For teachers, we’re walking you through the materials available and how you could use them within a classroom setting. We’re talking curriculum identifiers, activities and suggested plans to help you build the employability and financial skills of your students. We’ve created Money Minds with a flexible and bitesize approach, in partnership with teachers, to help you get the very most out of the materials available.
Can I use the materials with my class or community group?
Yes, the materials have been designed for just that. You can use the playlist function to help you pull together the bitesize content in a way that will complement your lesson planning or community session. Similarly, we’ve created teacher guides to help to manage content in different ways to support your year group’s learning objectives.
Take a look through the Money Minds site alongside our teacher guides to see all the content available and how you can piece it together to suit your students' needs.
Can someone deliver sessions to my class or community group?
Absolutely. We’re supporting our colleagues to deliver sessions to young people aged 11-19. In order to book a session, you’ll need to contact your local branch and see if they can help you. They’ll ask some key questions about the format of your session and what you’re interested in having delivered, as well as some practical questions ahead of the day.
Our colleagues will have completed Classroom Ethics and Safeguarding awareness training and familiarised themselves with the course, so that they’re ready to deliver the session within the classroom in small groups or pairs. We operate under a ‘safer recruitment policy’, but our colleague volunteers won’t be DBS checked. Volunteers within schools should always be supervised, supervision is the school's responsibility.
If you'd like further support with booking a session, you can email community@ybs.co.uk.