Sarah Mayall, Aquinas 6th Form College, Cheshire
Winner, 2010
Student award - secondary
Sarah took part in a tutorial on money at Aquinas 6th Form College and this got her thinking about how she spent her own money. Since then she has really taken on board the importance of personal finance. Because she wanted to go on holiday with friends in the summer she decided to start being more careful with her money and pledged to reduce her spending and save up over a two-month period. She saved almost £150 through using special offers, vouchers and staying in with friends rather than going out. She also got involved in the college money week by helping to run the ‘Jaffa cake challenge’ – a blind taste test to get students thinking about whether it is worth paying extra for branded products. Sarah has also encouraged her peers to change the way they think about money and come up with new ideas for money-saving initiatives at school. Her work at school has led Sarah to think about the value of money in her own life and she now feels more prepared to manage her money when she goes on to university.
The judges were so impressed with Sarah’s entry that all of them had taken it home to show their teenage children! They commented this student was really ‘living the learning of PFE’, changing not only her only behaviour and lifestyle, but inspiring positive change in the behaviour of her peers.
