KINGSTON, Jamaica — In celebration of Child’s Month and as part of their Career Day Expo, 13 students from Rainbow Land Nursery School, in Kingston, were treated to an engaging and educational tour of JN Bank Half-Way-Tree Branch in the parish, where they were introduced to basic financial concepts in a fun and interactive way.

The three-and-a-half-year-old students participated in activities such as using a coin deposit machine and learning how to operate a smart ATM. Each child brought along their personal piggy bank, filled with coins they had been saving at home, to take part in the hands-on experience.

“They were excited. Some even broke open their piggy banks just to put in the little coins they had saved,” related Shanae Morris, assistant manager – Partnerships and Engagement, JN Bank. “They caught on quickly, and one of the students even said, ‘Banking is cool.’”

Morris explained that the initiative forms part of the bank’s broader financial literacy outreach, aimed at helping children develop sound money management habits from an early age.

“The key message we wanted to share is that saving can start as early as two years old,” Morris pointed out. “We showed them different types of money – both coins and paper bills -and helped them understand the difference between both.”

Patrice Peralto, principal of Rainbow Land Nursery School, said the tour was a natural extension of what the students were learning in class.

“We wanted them to learn to count, to sort, and to understand what coins could be counted and what couldn’t,” she informed. “There was even a pin in one of the piggy banks that the machine couldn’t process, which became a valuable learning moment.”

She also emphasised the importance of exposing students to real-world institutions at an early age.

“We were teaching them about different careers, and this was the first time they were exposed to a business career,” Peralto added. “It helped them understand that a bank is a place of work and that businesspeople are just as important to the community as doctors and firemen.”

This is the first time Rainbow Land Nursery School has partnered with the bank for a tour of this kind.

Peralto noted it was a valuable experience and expressed interest in making it a recurring event.

Morris disclosed that JN Bank plans to continue its school outreach initiative throughout the year, reinforcing the importance of saving and introducing children to financial education from an early age.

Since 2001, JN Bank has maintained a vibrant schools savings programme for children at the basic, primary and high school level.