Target 2.0

This year, some of Stretford Grammar's Year 12 economics students took part in an annual competition called Target 2.0 which is run by the Bank of England in order to encourage students to participate in economics in the real world. Students had to carry out research and participate in group discussions in order to come to a decision of how they would change interest rates and the asset purchase programme to allow inflation to reach its 2.0% target.

With the aid of economics teacher, Mrs Masih, students Usman Ahmad, Kofi Carvel, Liam McShane, Neelam Mehmood and Zen Rizvi created a powerpoint which was presented to the Museum of Science and Industry on Friday 20th November 2011 in front of three judges. The competition was intense as the students had to put themselves in the shoes of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and present their ideas.

The preparation involved researching data, economic theory and the MPC's decisions and then discussing the effects that different decisions would have on the future economy. The ideas were then presented to several teachers and the presentation was fully practised.

The fifteen minute presentation was presented to the judges, on the day, and then the team were asked questions and their responses were also judged.  Seven other students took part in the Manchester heat including Bolton School Division, Bolton Girls' School and Xaverian College.

Although our students did not get through to the next round, the judges' comments were very encouraging and all students on the team enjoyed the whole experience .