Jack Hartley, Year 12
The CIPFA games, run by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy, are a “stimulating and fun environment for post-16 students (Years 12 and 13) to sample the scope, complexity and impact of financial management in the public sector.”
This year, a team of 7 students from St Thomas More competed against other schools in the area as they took on the role of a management team in the NHS. Schools and colleges were given background information prior to the event and the team had to assign roles to their team members in advance, including the chief executive, director of finance and director of human resources.
The games started with us being given a range of resources including laptops, paper and various other useful implements. The day consisted of one task from 10am to 12am, with a second task set for the afternoon session from 1pm to 3pm, however all teams were given deliberate interruptions at various points to distract them from the task at hand.
For task one each team had to write a report on budget cuts. Therefore they had to decide where the cuts would come from, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each of their sections and how it would affect their jobs.
Task two followed on from task one as each team had to present the budget cuts to the board through a presentation.
While the teams were working they were being assessed and at the end of the day a winner was chosen. St Thomas More came third, which was a great result for the team.