Today, Year 4 took part in a Money Sense workshop. The children were asked to plan and organise a party.
Learning objectives:
• Identify what makes a good birthday party
• Plan and organise a party by making
decisions about what to include within
a set budget
• Identify costs and show an understanding
of value for money
For this lesson, we were joined by a volunteer from a bank. After hearing about her role, the children were able to ask our visitor some questions.
What’s it like working in a bank?
Do you need to be good at communicating with people?
How did you get into banking?
Why do people use banks?
Can people come to you for advice about money?
How is the bank, and its workers kept safe?
Year 4 worked in groups through a sequence of tasks. 
Firstly, they discussed some questions.
How can birthday parties be different?
How can they be similar?
What might people do at a birthday party?
What is the best birthday party you have
been to? Why was it so good?
Have you been to a party you didn’t enjoy?
Why didn’t you enjoy it?
Then, the class were encouraged to consider: 
Who will you organise a party for? Why did
you choose this child?
What type of party might they like? Why do
you think that?
What ideas do you have for a great party?
Why would these things make it a
great party?
Following this, how will we plan the birthday party?
When the groups had agreed a theme for their chosen child’s birthday party, they then needed to decide what will happen at their party and what they will need to provide to make it a success. Decisions were made as a group and roles were delegated.
What would you like to happen
at this party? Why?
What costs might be involved when organising this party?
How many people will you invite and how will you invite them? What is the cheapest way to do this? Why do you think that?
What will you give people to eat and
drink? Why?
Where could you buy the food and drink?
How will you know the best prices for the
items you need?
Where will you buy the cake? Will this provide
the best value? How do you know?
What type of entertainment will you provide?
How much will this cost? Could you have provided this entertainment any cheaper?
Using a price list activity sheet, each person had to fully cost the aspect of the party they were responsible for. As they were to be competing with the other groups, the children had to budget well to provide the best-value party. 
Finally, each group presented their work to the rest of the class. All the groups were under the given budget. Throughout this lesson, it was great to see some superb teamwork and lots of the children challenging themselves with the various mathematical calculations.