New world of skills dawns for primary schools thanks to Manx charity Junior Achievement

The Island’s school children are set to benefit from a new scheme that will help them develop enterprise skills and ease the transition from primary to secondary education.

Junior Achievement has received a donation that will see the Manx charity deliver a five-year project to Year 6 students in primary schools from September this year.

The project, called ‘Our World’, has been funded by the Scheinberg family and will be in the form of a one-day programme delivered by an instructor employed by Junior Achievement who will work with students in the classroom.  The materials and the programme will be delivered free of charge to the schools, meaning that every Year 6 student will have the opportunity to participate.

Through a range of hands-on activities students will discover how businesses trade on a worldwide scale and will look at why countries import and export goods. They will learn the difference between natural and man-made resources and consider the effect of global supply and demand on the value, price, use and sustainability of the world’s resources.

They will also take part in a trading game and international marketing challenge, in which they will be able to apply their newly acquired entrepreneurial skills to develop an idea for an export product. In the final session students will work in teams to present their marketing plan to the rest of the class.

Junior Achievement’s chief executive Sue Cook said: ‘Our charity is working with every high school in the Isle of Man to help young people develop employability skills but this kind donation from the Scheinberg family means that we will now be able to work with every primary school as well.

‘Being able to reach these young students through the Our World sessions means we’ll be equipping them for when they move on to secondary education. They will already be familiar with our programmes, which will continue to benefit them not only throughout their education but also in later life when they enter the jobs market.’

Currently reaching more than 5000 Manx students annually, Junior Achievement is a Manx registered charity established in theIsle of Manfor more than 30 years delivering a range of workshops and programmes in schools. These are supported by professionally developed materials which focus on three key areas:  financial literacy, employability skills and entrepreneurship.