Banqer and its use in the classroom

This year I implemented a different reward system in the class that also included some financial literacy for my students. This programme is called Banqer and is run through the Kiwi Bank. Each student gets an "account" and then uses real life situations to learn how to better manage their money.

When I first introduced it in term one each student was given a weekly allowance of $300.00 for coming to school. Out of this they had to pay $170 Rent. This was broken down to $150 for desk and chair and $20.00 for laptop usage and wifi. Students could then choice to keep the rest of their money in either their everyday account or their savings account. As the term progressed we looked at interest and tax. Students then were able to gather interest on their savings accounts.

At the end of term 1 we looked at our class jobs and decided that some were worth more then others because they required more work. As a result of this discussion we assigned different monetary values to our different classroom jobs, and students had to apply for these jobs. To keep the interest high I had a few jobs that weren't open yet that students could look forward too. We also discussed minimum wage, which was $176.00 at the time. Those that didn't have a job were put on minimum wage, but still had the same costs.

From there we have moved on to Term Deposits and how these work, Kiwi Saver and how to make it work for you, and just at the start of this term we have started looking at the property market and purchasing houses.

My students have really enjoying this. I have been impressed with how much the students are learning and how engaged they are with there learning. They are very competitive and want to be the top of the class. Lots have made mistakes with their money, which has not ended up with them (One had to break his Kiwi Saver as he was over $6,000 over drawn)

Take home note: Will defiantly use this next year. Children have been really engaged. Next year I would change a few things, like unlocking kiwi saver to help them buy their houses, and having the reward system set up sooner.