Four Year 12 Economics students – Samara, Koshiki, Imaan and Fiona – have achieved the accolade of being named as runners up in the national final of the prestigious Budget Challenge, organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs.

The final, with 10 teams vying for the honours, was scheduled to take place in London at the IEA offices but plans had to be changed in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Instead of presenting their proposals to a panel of experts in person, the finalists were required to submit a pre-recorded video in which they presented their proposal for a UK government budget with taxation and spending policies for the coming financial year.

During the first week of the closure of schools across the country, the panel of experts conducted a virtual interview of the team, asking questions on their presentation and proposal. The WGS team was also asked to consider the impact of the pandemic on their proposal, which was prepared before the onset of this unprecedented global crisis. The girls rose to the challenge, adjusting their calculations and spending priorities to factor in the impact of the pandemic. Well done to you all!

Mrs Toubanks, our Head of Economics, reported that the four students put in a huge amount of work in researching and developing their proposal and had very much enjoyed the process.

Link to the IEA news release: https://iea.org.uk/the-iea-budget-challenge/