The Harris Group

At a time when financial education is missing from most classrooms, Harris is determined to change the story. 

A 2024 study by Santander UK found that only 26% of young adults aged 18-21 had any financial education at school-leaving millions without the skills to budget, save, manage credit or plan for their futures.

That’s why we’re proud to be working in partnership with the Financial Times through its Seasonal Appeal 2025. This global campaign is already helping us expand life-changing financial literacy programmes across our 55 academies-giving thousands of young people access to the money skills they need to thrive in adulthood.

This work is already underway. Financial education is taking centre stage at Harris: our Harris Enterprise Challenge gives students a Dragons’ Den-style experience of entrepreneurship, financial planning and pitching, while our Harris Futures mentoring programme connects pupils to professionals in finance and business. With over 15,000 alumni in our network, students gain real-world insights that can shape their ambitions and futures.

We’re also embedding financial literacy directly into the classroom. Over 50% of our academies now use FLIC – the Financial Literacy in Curriculum programme developed by Young Enterprise. FLIC provides age-appropriate, curriculum-aligned resources that help students build essential money skills from early secondary through to sixth form. From budgeting and saving to understanding credit and investment, FLIC equips students with the practical knowledge they need to make informed financial decisions.

The FT partnership is helping us go further-developing new curriculum resources, hosting specialist workshops, and opening up fresh opportunities for disadvantaged students to learn how to manage, grow and invest money wisely.

Because when young people understand finance, they gain more than skills – they gain power over their futures.

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