Schools in North Wales beat the Stock Market

Students at Prestatyn High School took on 23 other young fund management teams from regional schools in Stock Market Challenge and came out on top.

Prestatyn High School won the North Wales Schools event, held at Bangor University recently, with a portfolio value of £202,000. Runners up were St Gerard’s School and Ysgol Friars coming third.

Hundreds of pupils and students from our local schools experienced the excitement of the trading room floor ‘virtually’ first hand – thanks to this Bangor University sponsored initiative called Stock Market Challenge.

The competition gave participants the chance to experience the excitement of buying and selling shares on a live trading floor. The initiative taught young people how the financial markets work and encouraged them to develop key skills such as communication, problem-solving, decision making, teambuilding, and negotiation.

Staff and students from the university took part as traders running the dealing pits and were on-hand to offer information and advice to pupils and students interested in a related degree course at the Business School.

The pupils and students worked in small teams trading in shares and foreign currency. Each team started with £15,000 in ‘virtual’ funds to invest by interpreting and analysing information from the stock market.

The simulated live trading took place over a two-hour period, during which time the students built a portfolio of shares and currency by making decisions about when to invest and when to sell. The team with the highest portfolio at the closing bell won.

The project is not just about teaching young people about the financial markets – it’s much, much wider than that. It’s about encouraging them to work in a team to develop their communication skills and their decision making ability – skills which will be vitally important to them when they enter higher education and the world of work, whichever career path they ultimately choose.

Pictured above (top) are the winning team, Prestatyn High School and (bottom) runners up, St Gerard's School.

Publication date: 1 October 2010