Newcastle Sixth Form College A Level students; Jay Sood, Erin Burns, Emily Kirtlan and Pauline Maubane beat seven other local schools and colleges to take home first prize in the regional heat of a national competition run by the Bank of England. The team will now go on to compete for the Challenge Trophy and the chance to win £5,000.
During 42 regional heats, teams of students analyse UK and global economic data to assess the possible impact on inflation and the economic outlook for the UK. The competition simulates the monthly activity of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee. In a presentation to a panel of Bank of England judges, the teams explain their findings and answer questions from the panel.
Newcastle Sixth Form College Director of Teaching and Learning, Aaron Brownlees, said: “This competition not only allows students to take their enthusiasm for Economics beyond the classroom, it allows students to apply economic theory to real data of the UK's current and forecasted economic performance.
“They must rise to the challenge of presenting in front of their peers and answering direct questions from professional economic analysts.
“The students have grown in confidence by preparing for the competition and I'm sure they are all about an inch taller after their win.”
The chair of the judging panel and Bank of England North East Agent, Mauricio Armellini, said: “Congratulations to all the teams involved – as ever it was great to see the amount of hard work that went into all the presentations.
“It was a really close call to pick a winner, but we know that Newcastle Sixth Form College will do the North East proud in the next round”.
The sixteenth annual Target Two Point Zero Interest Rate Challenge competition is run by the Bank of England in conjunction with The Times.
