Jaidon is on the money at workshop

Anthony was joined by Cherries legend Steve Fletcher for the event which was hosted by the AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust in partnership with Strategic Solutions.

Pupils from Ferndown Upper School, The Blandford School and Poole High School were given an introduction into financial literacy, tax, budgeting, bank accounts, understanding credit and accessing support.

In its first full season delivering the project in primary and secondary schools across Dorset, the AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust has staged 54 sessions including more than 1,600 pupils.

Cherries frontman Anthony, who is the project ambassador, said: “It’s always nice to come out and do things like this and I really enjoyed it.

“These workshops are very important for young people because, in schools, these things are probably not talked about enough.

“When you start working and earning money, it’s important to learn the options you have in terms of being good with it.

“I didn’t have anything like this when I left school and it can be invaluable and help them in the long run.

“It’s great to see the Community Sports Trust, supported by Strategic Solutions, putting on seminars like this and helping young people. I think it will be really beneficial for everyone.”

Strategic Solutions are a multi award-winning independent financial advisory firm with a team of chartered independent financial advisers covering the South of England.

Rachael Martin, head paraplanner at Strategic Solutions, said: “Steve and his team have been going out to schools and doing the presentation for the children, educating them on finances, budgeting and what a bank account is.

“These are really important life skills that I don’t think people learn in school. It’s an absolutely fantastic effort and they have done a really good job.”

Katie Brown, a financial adviser and paraplanner at Strategic Solutions, added: “It’s really important to us that anyone can access financial advice so we have a lot of initiatives including this one to promote that within our local community.”

The workshop included a stadium tour and concluded with Anthony and Fletcher conducting an insightful question-and-answer session.

Steve Cuss, who heads the Community Sports Trust, said: “We had a full day at Vitality Stadium with three secondary schools in.

“We were looking at aspiration and, as part of that, we delivered money management workshops to all the groups which were well received. It gives them good life skills to take back into everyday life.

“Many of the pupils we are seeing are getting part-time jobs so they are starting to understand money and it’s really important that we can help along the way with some important lessons.

“Our partnership with Strategic Solutions is very important to us and it enables us to go into schools.

“We had three schools at this event but we’re in schools every day of the week and we’ve delivered more than 50 workshops and wouldn’t have been able to do that without the fantastic support they provide.”