PUPILS at a Bradford school will get early life lessons on how to manage their money after being chosen to become a “centre of excellence” for financial management.

Children at Marshfield Primary School on Thornton Lane will be be taught about money and personal finance as part of a partnership between the school and financial education charity the Personal Finance Education Group, part of Young Enterprise and Santander.

The announcement means that the school will work with an educational specialist to create a detailed programme of financial education for their children and bring the teaching of personal finance including saving and budgeting, into the school curriculum, rather than have them only learn these important life skills once they become adults.

It adds to the list of Bradford schools to become such centres, part of a push to prepare children for adult life by making sure smart money management becomes part of their lives from a young age.

Other schools to have recently become centres of excellence include Lidget Green Primary and Dixons City Academy.

The scheme in Marshfield will see teachers being assisted in the delivery of personal finance lessons and learning activities, drawing on the charity’s 14 years experience of aiding schools across the UK.

Santander is supporting the development of Marshfield to achieve the centre of excellence status in the next year.

The school is one of 103 across the country to benefit from the programme, 50 of which are currently funded by Santander. It will be supported in sharing its new expertise with other Bradford schools to benefit the wider educational community and help find the best ways to get the district’s young people thinking about finances.

Victoria Hartford, head at Marshfield, said: “We know just how important it will be for our children to manage their money well throughout their lives. These skills don’t come automatically – they need to be taught, and as it is our responsibility to prepare them for adult life we believe embedding financial education into our school curriculum is a necessity.

“We are pleased to be working with PFEG to become a centre of excellence in this crucial area, for the benefit of our children.”

Michael Mercieca, Chief Executive of Young Enterprise, said: “We are delighted that Marshfield Primary has joined our centre of excellence programme through our partnership with Santander. The work that staff will be doing with our educational specialists over the coming months will be of enormous benefit to children, with financial education set to be firmly embedded into the curriculum. Our aim is to ensure that all children enter adult life with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to manage money well.”

Craig Storah, branch manager at Santander’s Wibsey Branch said: “We believe it is important for everyone to have good basic money management skills, but particularly young people who are encountering money earlier than ever.

“We recognise that teaching young people requires specialist delivery and the centres of excellence programme offers a tailored programme using materials that have been designed by education experts that complement the existing curriculum.”