Pupils Enjoy a Money Skills Session

We were delighted to welcome Abigail Foster to Mill Hill. Abigail presented a ‘Money Skills Presentation’ to Fifth Form and Upper Sixth pupils as part of our PSHE programme.

Abigail founded ‘Elent’ because she had a passion for financial education whilst working for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar as an accountant. Elent provides financial education workshops for Schools, Universities, and workplaces across the country. It focuses on giving young people financial skills to help them navigate life.

Abigail’s School workshops seek to deliver the financial education we all wish we’d received at school. They focus on understanding the basics and stress the importance of financial literacy.

At Mill Hill, her sessions covered payslips, student loans, pensions, budgeting and more. The sessions gave our pupils a strong understanding of the ‘financial essentials’ and will help them feel prepared and confident when managing their finances.

Abigail gave our pupils four main top tips:

Check your payslips often, understanding what the codes mean and what your actual take-home is!
Retirement is a great tax-saving opportunity. If you can, start contributing early and think about how pensions work best for you.
Budgeting is a way to control your spending for uncertain times – check your bank accounts and see how you are spending your money currently – then think about how you can save using the 50/30/20 concept.
If you haven’t already make sure you know your NI Number – you will need it for life and it’s easy to access so keep it somewhere safe – especially in the run-up to getting a job or going to university.

Providing pupils with financial education helps build positive money habits from an early age. Equipping pupils with the tools and understanding builds vital skills to navigate the financial world now and in years to come. As a School, we are really excited about our relationship with Abigail and look forward to a parent’s presentation online next half term with a focus on student loans and future planning, along with an Entrepreneurs session that she will run with those pupils who are interested in other areas of finance.

Mrs Dickin (Head of PSHE) said, “We are thrilled to be working with Abigail in the ‘Living in the Wider World’ strand of PSHE, and excited for the opportunities our pupils will have in the future, our pupils have asked for more education around financial skills, and Abigail’s wealth of expertise will help to deliver this.”

Click the links below to find out more about Abigail: