Who thought accounting could be fun? It is according to Year 6 students at Valley Primary School in Whitehaven. The school played host to Armstrong Watson for the afternoon, who used a game of Monopoly to teach the students the fundamentals of accounting. After a fun Q & A, the students busied themselves playing the game, learning about income and expenditure, assets and liabilities as they went along. They even constructed a balance sheet!

The session worked well for all abilities, as each team had members with different roles and responsibilities, but learnt to work well as a team. ‘Can he come back again?’ and ‘Can we do this in our maths lesson?’ were just two of the questions at the end of the session.

The Year 6 teacher, Mrs Hanlon-Nixon, said

“The children really engaged with the workshop and were able to identify that this was ‘real-life’ mathematics. At the end when we talked about what we had learned, I was really delighted that so many children were able to explain what they had learned and that they asked so many relevant, enquiring questions.”

Richard Askew, a partner with Armstrong Watson who delivered the Monopoly session, said

“The children in year 6 were great hosts and really embraced the challenge the monopoly game presented. It was great to see how engaged and enthusiastic the children were and I was really impressed with their ability to handle a quite dynamic and challenging task. The game provided them with the platform to work on their maths, teamwork and communication skills. I was particularly impressed with the fact each team were able to record double entry, and then produce a profit & loss account and a balance sheets which balanced!”

Richard Askew, who designed the session which has been run in other schools involved in Primary Business Partnership added

“The session was fun, the children and staff were very welcoming and engaging. Most importantly, I believe it was great learning experience for all involved. It is our duty as local employers to talk to children about the opportunities out there and give them the motivation and inspiration to achieve their ambitions.”