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Virgin Money extends Make £5 Grow scheme to all UK primary schools
Howard Lake | 7 September 2013 | News
Virgin Money is extending its Make £5 Grow scheme to primary schools across the country. The scheme is designed to offer an enjoyable way for pupils to learn entrepreneurial skills together with the basics of financial education.
So far nearly 3,000 children have been involved in the test phase in the North East and North West of England and participating schools have made a combined profit of £10,000.
Virgin Money offers schools an interest-free loan of £5 for every participating pupil, up to a maximum of £250 per school, for 50 pupils. Pupils are then encouraged to form small teams, pool their money and create a small business and develop products or services they can sell.
In the process they are encouraged to think carefully about their target audience, product costing, pricing and marketing. Schools keep any profit made after the original loan has been paid back. Virgin Money staff volunteers get involved to help make the scheme a success.
Clent Parochial Primary School
For example, Year 5 and 6 pupils at Clent Parochial Primary School in Worcestershire made £386 in profit recently by taking part in the scheme.
Headteacher Christian Hamilton introduced Make £5 Grow to 31 pupils earlier this year. It was so successful that he now plans on expanding the number of pupils taking part.
He added: “Being able to use and apply skills that are taught in class to real-life situations has helped the children develop in confidence and teamwork, demonstrate leadership skills and have fun. Parents loved it too. We’ve had some great comments.”
The profits have been invested in a class trip to West Midland Safari Park in Kidderminster, as well as the purchase and care of a new school guinea pig, and there are still some funds left over to invest in the expansion of the scheme.
Pupils at other schools have used the money to sell calendars, bags and cupcakes. Some of these businesses are still running and continue to make a profit for their school.
Details are available on 0191 279 4676.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.