Students' interest wins top place in Bank of England regional final

The Bank of England has awarded Reigate Grammar School top place in the regional final of its national competition Target Two Point Zero. The school’s team of Sixth Form Economics students beat entrants from six Surrey schools, including RGS Guildford, Cranleigh School and Charterhouse, to take the lead in the Bank’s interest rate based challenge. The annual competition is run by the Bank of England to give students an accurate feel of how the UK economy works as well as the chance to take on the Bank’s role.

To win the regional final, Reigate Grammar School’s team of four students had to convince the judging panel that a cut in interest rates was necessary to deal with the liquidity crisis in financial markets. Like the Bank of England’s own Monetary Policy Committee, the sixth formers had to consider the factors affecting the UK’s economic and inflation outlook before deciding on their chosen rate of interest. The team were then subject to a round of on the spot questions put to them by the judging panel.

Commented Paul Flanagan, Head of Economics: “Considering the stiff regional competition, and that over 280 schools and colleges have entered this challenge from across the country, I think we can be very proud of our achievement in winning the regional heat. The competition in itself has been a valuable learning experience and the students have certainly immersed themselves in the role of of the Bank.”

The Reigate Grammar team is now through to the area semi finals of the competition, which will be held in February next year.

December 07