Ten lessons, from pocket money to rent
The Smartmonies programme starts with what money actually is and ends with what it costs to run a life. Every lesson is interactive — built around decisions, not worksheets.
For ages 7–11 · Years 3 to 6 · Key Stage 2
Explain a little, then try it
Children lose interest when they’re talked at. Every idea is introduced briefly, then immediately put to work in something they do.
Lessons in order
Each one builds on the last, from the basics through to the cost of living.
Short explainers
One idea each, kept brief — just enough to make the next activity make sense.
Interactive activities
Sorting, matching, budgeting challenges and scenarios. Learning by doing.
Final quiz
Ends each lesson by checking what stuck, so gaps get caught early.
Taught live, each lesson has a 40-minute slot, with 30 to 40 minutes of teaching depending on the child. A Year 6 pupil will usually want the full time; a Year 3 pupil often does their best work in half an hour.
What your child will learn
What is Money?
Where money came from, the forms it takes today, and what banks actually do with it.
Needs & Wants
Telling the difference — and learning that it shifts depending on the situation you’re in.
The Value of Money
Why £1 buys less than it used to, and what makes money worth more or less over time.
Earning Money
How people earn — wages, self-employment, and running something of your own.
Taxes Made Easy
Why a wage slip shows less than you earned, and where the missing part goes.
Savings & Interest
Setting a savings goal, and discovering how interest quietly does the work for you.
Long-Term Savings
Why starting early matters more than saving a lot, and what a pension really is.
Borrowing & Loans
What it costs to borrow, how to read the real price, and the traps to avoid.
Keeping a Money Record
Keeping track of what comes in and goes out — the habit behind every other money skill.
The Cost of Living
Putting it all together: what a real life actually costs, at different stages of it.
The order isn’t accidental
Children’s attitudes to money form far earlier than most people expect — research from the Money and Pensions Service puts it between the ages of three and seven, well before any school covers the subject. Waiting until secondary school means teaching against habits that are already set.
So the programme starts concrete and gets gradually more abstract. A child has to understand what money is before wants and needs mean anything; needs and wants have to land before budgeting does; and none of it makes sense without first grasping that money’s value changes. Each lesson depends on the one before it, which is why we teach them in order rather than as ten standalone topics.
The format follows the same logic. Long explanations lose children, so every idea gets a short introduction and is then immediately put to use — sorting, matching, spending a pretend budget, making a decision and seeing the consequence. Understanding is checked at the end of each lesson rather than at the end of the programme, so a gap gets caught in week three instead of week ten.
Qualified teachers
Primary educators shaped the sequence, the pacing and the language for each age group.
Child psychologists
Advised on attention span, how habits form, and how to teach without inducing anxiety about money.
Finance professionals
Checked that what children learn about tax, interest and borrowing is accurate and current.
Young Enterprise
Independently assessed the programme against national standards for financial education.
Written for ages 7–11, Years 3 to 6, Key Stage 2. A Key Stage 3 programme for ages 11–14 is on the way.
Ready to start the programme?
The same ten lessons, taught live one-to-one or worked through at your own pace. Choose whichever suits your family.
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