School Banking

[Miss Chicken]

Did you, or do your children, have a school bank account.

This is a system in which children take money to school and it is put into their student bank account.

When I was a girl we used to take 20c to school on banking day - that is probably the equivalent of about $4.00 today.

When my kids were at school they I used to give them about $1 a week each.

When we decided to buy our first computer we raided my kids' school bank accounts to help buy it. I know that they had about $800 in the bank between them. The computer cost us about $1300 - it was a second hand 386!!!! (it just shows you how much computer prices have dropped since 1993)

 

[Jadzia]

I remember my school introducing a banking scheme while I was there, but it was very unpopular, and it was liquidated after about six months.

 

[Major Chord]

My high school opened up a student-run branch of the Meridia Credit Union last year. So far, I've only made one $5 deposit since last year. I really haven't thought to put more into it. My parents wouldn't give me dough to add to it, but since I will most likely be getting a job in the next few weeks, I might start to build it. I'd rather use the bank my parents use though, if I were to put away money.

 

[Canadave]

I've never heard of such a thing, honestly. What's the appeal of it over getting a child a kid's account at a bank?

 

[Miss Chicken]

I've never heard of such a thing, honestly. What's the appeal of it over getting a child a kid's account at a bank?

I think it encourages children to save more as each school has a regular day of the week for banking. It is much easier for a parent to just out a couple of dollars in an envelope than having to go into a bank to deposit a couple of dollars.

The school bank accounts have no fees and they will take small deposits. Also the banks hold competitions for the children. My youngest son won a drawing contest and was the bank put $10 in his bank as a prize and the bank displayed all the winning pictures at the local shopping centre.

Kindergarten children are usually given a banking pack to take home and most parents join their children up then.

EDITED TO ADD - and with school banking children actually get a bank book rather than an card. This way they can easily view their deposits and their balances.

There has been school banking in Australia since at least the early 1950s. The banks give out novelty money boxes to kids as well and many of these have become colectors items.

 

[shivkala]

We had this in elementary school. It was a great way to learn about saving money and banking in general.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

The only "bank" our school system has is the lunch system, when in I send $10 to school, they add it to the "bank" and the childern draw on it to pay for their lunch. It serves no other use.

 

[Mallory]

I never heard of anything like this before. Of course all my schooling was in the 60s and 70s. It wasn't an option for any of my children either. Interesting concept though.

 

[Miss Chicken]

It seems that school banking in Australia is a lot older than I thought.

Prior to the Second World War, Commonwealth Bank Liaison Officers made regular visits to schools participating in the School Banking program. The visits were both to support teachers with administration of the program and to address children on financial prudence and the habit of saving. The bank was forced to abandon these visits due to the labour shortage caused by the war. The School Bank, commissioned by the bank in 1951 and contracted to the recently established Australian National Film Board, was clearly produced as a proxy for the Liaison Officer visits. The visits resumed in September 1955.

School banking has a long history. By the late 1800s, individual teachers in several states had established Penny Banks for local school children. In 1887 the New South Wales Department of Public Instruction (later the Department of Education) introduced the Public School Savings Bank. The scheme and the students’ accounts were managed by the schools, with bulk funds deposited in the Government Savings Bank of New South Wales. In 1925 the bank took over administration, issuing each student with a passbook, but schools still accepted students’ deposits.
Between 1907 and 1928 school banking of one form or other was introduced in every state, in conjunction with either the respective state bank or the Commonwealth Bank. The Great Depression and the Second World War saw amalgamations between the Commonwealth Bank and two of the state banks, as well as a general overhaul of government-run bank functions. By 1955 the Commonwealth Bank’s School Banking program was operating in 4,231 schools in the ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands Protectorate. The Bank also provided similar facilities for non-departmental schools in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

SOURCE

 

[trampledamage]

That's a very neat idea. It's not something I've come across before.

 

[Cakes488]

Yeah they had this...my mother had me do it. Unfortunately I ended up giving her back most of the money because I fucked up my flute and she made me pay for it. Ohhhh the Irish mothers.