Member Article

Award-winning financial education programme celebrates 10,000th student

Sale Sharks and MBNA celebrated a special milestone this week after an award-winning education partnership that uses rugby to teach young people about money management welcomed its 10,000th student.

The MBNA Number Cruncherz programme was created by the Premiership Rugby side and the Chester-based financial services company in 2014 to help improve financial literacy amongst 11 and 12 year-olds.

And since its launch, coaches from Sale Sharks’ award-winning Community Trust along with MBNA volunteers have delivered sessions in 145 schools in 21 local authorities across Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Cumbria and North Wales.

Sharks coaches have also travelled more than 40,000 miles visiting schools, worked with 870 teachers and given away almost 600 rugby balls and 2,300 tickets to the club’s matches.

The 10,000th MBNA Number Cruncherz graduate was 11-year-old Kayti Calderbank, from Openshaw, Manchester.

Kayti attends East Manchester Academy and the milestone was marked by a visit to the school from Sharks and England Saxons star Sam James and fellow first team player Matt Rogerson.

Head of Community Operations at Sale Sharks Community Trust, Jonny Acheson, said: “We’re very proud of what we have achieved with MBNA Number Cruncherz since 2014. Sport, and rugby in particular, is fantastic for making topics like financial education engaging and exciting for children and adults alike and this is a perfect example of that.

“Teaching children about money management is a vitally important part of their education and through this partnership with MBNA we’ve been able to help children all across the north west and north Wales.”

Managing household budgets, buying rugby match-day tickets and paying player wages are among the activities included in the ground-breaking programme.

Children are also taught about some of the core values of rugby and take part in a non-contact game of touch rugby to learn how to play the game for themselves.

Kayti said: “Number Cruncherz is brilliant. I really enjoyed playing rugby and I loved learning how to pass, tackle and kick. I also enjoyed learning about how to look after my money and about how much things like electricity and gas cost.

“I had never thought about this kind of thing before but it was really useful and I learned a lot.”

“Since the launch of MBNA Number Cruncherz in 2014 we’ve worked closely with Sale Sharks to deliver an award-winning programme that really makes a difference to the lives of these young people,” said MBNA’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Mark Elliott.

“MBNA is very proud to have been involved in such a worthwhile initiative and it’s fantastic to see the 10,000th student graduate through the programme. We hope it provides children with the foundation to manage their money well now and in the future.”

In February, MBNA Number Cruncherz was named “Best CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Programme” at the 2016 Card & Payments Awards. The programme also received international acclaim in 2015 with a silver award at the International CSR Awards.

For more information about MBNA Number Cruncherz or the range of community programmes provided by Sale Sharks Community Trust, visit www.salesharks.com/community

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Number Cruncherz .