A CHARITY which has undertaken pioneering work in educating children about money management and debt has now reached more than 5,000 children in 100 schools.

DebtAware, who are based at Anchor Court, Commercial Road, Darwen has been named as a Spirit of the Community Awards 2015 education category finalist.

DebtAware is a 'peer-to-peer' financial education programme in which secondary school students plan and run classes on money management for primary school children.

They train Year 10 students to develop their own teaching materials, devise money management lessons and then teach them to Year 5 and 6 primary school children.

It also trains primary teachers and older primary pupils to cascade lessons within primary schools.

They are part of Debt Advice Foundation, a registered national debt advice and education charity.

The awards, which are supported by Yorkshire and Clydesdale Bank Foundation, aim to recognise projects that advance financial education, improve employability and promote environmental protection or improvement.

Brian Souter, the charity’s education manager, said: "We’re delighted to see our programme being recognised in this way.

"The children and schools that work so hard to make it a success should all be very proud of this achievement.

"Although most of the schools we have reached are in East Lancashire and the wider North West, we are extending the programme and have recently had five schools in Glasgow and six in Stratford-upon-Avon.

"I’d also like to congratulate The Money Charity for winning the education category award.

"The high standard of the submissions this year has been hugely encouraging.

"It’s clear that, as an sector, we are at long last making real strides in terms of financial capability education."

Their programme publishes a series of core teaching resources based around The Money Diaries, all of which have been developed by the secondary students, known as Money Mentors.

The diaries form the heart of DebtAware’s money management Lessons.