Teaching what schools don't
We started chrome-spark because too many young adults were entering the world financially unprepared. We decided to do something about it.
The idea emerged from frustration. We watched friends struggle with debt, fail to save, and make costly financial mistakes that better education could have prevented.
The pattern was clear: financial literacy wasn't being taught systematically. Parents either avoided the topic or lacked confidence. Schools touched on it briefly. Young people received phones, bank cards, and online shopping access with minimal preparation.
Our founding story
In 2019, three educators and two financial advisers met at a community centre in Leeds. We'd all volunteered for a youth programme and kept noticing the same gap.
Teenagers asked brilliant questions about university costs, part-time work, and managing money independently. Yet they lacked foundational knowledge to process the answers. The conversation always circled back to basics: budgeting, interest rates, needs versus wants.
We started running informal workshops. Demand exceeded expectations. Parents thanked us. Teens returned with more questions. Within six months, we'd formalised our approach and launched chrome-spark.
What we believe
Financial literacy is a social equity issue. Affluent families pass down money knowledge through conversations and modelling. Less privileged families often can't. This perpetuates cycles of debt and financial insecurity.
We believe every child deserves access to this knowledge, regardless of their parents' financial situation. Our sliding scale pricing reflects this commitment.
We also believe in starting early. Waiting until teenagers face real financial decisions is too late. Money habits form in childhood. By the time a young person opens their first bank account, attitudes about spending and saving are largely set.
"My daughter attended a workshop at twelve. Now at fifteen, she's the only one among her friends who budgets her part-time earnings. She's teaching them what she learned." — Carol S., Bristol
Our teaching philosophy
We reject the lecture model. Financial concepts make sense when experienced, not when explained abstractly. Our sessions involve doing: creating budgets for real scenarios, comparing actual products, making trade-off decisions with tangible consequences.
Failure is part of learning. In our safe environments, kids can overspend their fictional budget and discover the problem this creates. Better to learn through simulation than through accumulating actual debt.
We adapt to individual learning styles. Some children grasp concepts through visualisation. Others need to manipulate numbers. Some learn best through discussion with peers. Our small group sizes allow this flexibility.
Who we work with
Our participants range from eight to nineteen years old. Some attend with siblings. Others come through school referrals. Many are self-motivated teenagers who recognise the importance of financial skills.
Parents often stay involved, especially with younger children. We encourage this. Family financial conversations are vital. When everyone speaks the same language, managing household money becomes collaborative rather than mysterious.
Our instructors
Every instructor brings dual expertise: education and finance. We hire teachers who understand child development and learning psychology. We hire financial professionals who can demystify complex concepts. Ideally, we find people with both backgrounds.
All instructors complete our training programme, which emphasises age-appropriate communication and experiential teaching methods. We review sessions regularly and incorporate feedback continuously.
"The instructor made compound interest make sense using sweets. My son still talks about that lesson two years later." — James P., Nottingham
Our impact so far
Since 2019, we've worked with over 1,200 young people across the UK. Follow-up surveys show significant behaviour changes. Participants report increased savings rates, more thoughtful purchasing decisions, and greater confidence discussing money with family.
Parents note shifts in household dynamics. Financial discussions become normalised. Children ask informed questions about family budgets and contribute ideas for saving toward shared goals.
Several teens have started small businesses using principles learned in our programmes. Others negotiated better terms on their first mobile contracts. One seventeen-year-old used investment knowledge from our course to help her grandmother understand pension options.
Looking forward
Our five-year goal is ambitious: reach 10,000 young people and establish partnerships with fifty schools. We're developing digital resources to supplement in-person workshops and exploring scholarship programmes for low-income families.
Financial literacy shouldn't be a privilege. It's a fundamental life skill, as essential as literacy and numeracy. We won't stop until it's treated that way across the education system.
If you share our vision of a financially literate generation, we'd love to work with you. Explore our programmes on the services page or reach out to discuss how we can support your family.