On Monday 8th March, Year 12 A Level Economics students were treated to a virtual talk from Brian Sloan, Deputy Agent for the Bank of England North West Agency. Brian gave an in-depth insight into the role of the Bank of England, both nationally and within our region, as well as current monetary policy and careers information.
The current Covid-19 pandemic has had a wide reaching impact on the position of our economy in such a short space of time and so strudents were able to gain detailed knowledge and understanding as to the impact of such an unexpected event, as well as other economically significant moments in recent history such as the 2008 Financial Crisis and the EU Referendum. Brian was able to detail the Bank of England’s response to these different events in a visual and interesting way, enabling our students to put their econmoic theory into context.
Brian also treated our students to a range of anecdotes including the sewage worker who tried to warn the Bank that their gold vaults were easily accessible from underground and was only believed when they challenged the worker to prove it, to the fact that there are very few people who know the full range of security features of the new polymer bank notes, resulting in no counterfeit polymer banknotes being in circulation to date.
This was a fascinating insight into such a prominent economic institution, and our students gained a wealth of information that they can carry forward into their A level studies and beyond.
