Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Citizenship
CitizenshipEveryday money: where yours goes25 min★ difficulty

Needs, wants and the choice in between

People say 'I need it' about trainers and 'I want it' about lunch, and then wonder why the money runs out. Sorting the two is the first real skill in handling money, and it is less obvious than it sounds.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand the functions and uses of money, the importance and practice of budgeting, and managing risk

Key learning points

  • • The honest test
  • • The grey middle
  • • Priorities when there is not enough
  • • Trade-offs are normal

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 18 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

functionsimportancepracticebudgetingmanaging

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 18 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 18

Watch first

Needs, wants and the choice in between

An English teaching video on this topic from Miacademy & MiaPrep Learning Channel. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand the functions and uses of money, the importance and practice of budgeting, and managing risk

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 18

Before we start

What you already know

You have tracked your own spending for a week and found where it went.

Recap: Where your money actually goes
3

Key words

Part 3 of 18

Key words

Words you'll need today

Need
Something you genuinely cannot go without: food, shelter, warmth, getting to school.
Want
Something that improves life but is not essential.
Essential spending
The bills and costs that must be paid before anything else.
Priority
The order you pay things in when there is not enough for everything.
Trade-off
Giving up one thing to get another, because money is limited.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 18

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Sorting needs from wants

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 18

Learn

The honest test

A need passes this test: if you do not pay it, something serious happens. No bus fare means missing school. No food means going hungry. A want fails the test — nothing serious happens, you are just disappointed. Trainers are a want; shoes that fit are a need. A phone contract is usually a want that has become a habit, though for a family it can genuinely be how a parent gets called at work.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 18

Learn

The grey middle

Most spending sits in the middle, and pretending otherwise is why budgets fail. School lunch is a need, but a £3.50 meal deal when a packed lunch costs 80p is a want dressed as a need. The useful question is not 'need or want' but 'is there a cheaper way to meet the same need?' That keeps the need and frees the money.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 18

Quick check

Which of these is clearly a need?

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Reset break

Part 8 of 18

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
9

Quick check

Part 9 of 18

Quick check

A £3.50 meal deal when a packed lunch costs 80p is best described as

10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 18

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Setting priorities in real life

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 18

Learn

Priorities when there is not enough

The Hall family has £40 left before payday and £52 of things to pay: £18 electricity top-up, £12 bus fares, £9 school trip deposit, £13 a birthday present. They pay the electricity and fares first, because losing power or missing school is serious. The trip deposit can be asked to wait a week; the present can be made rather than bought. Priorities are not about what you care about most, but about what goes wrong first.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 18

Learn

Trade-offs are normal

Every yes is a no to something else. Savannah's £6 a week saved on drinks can be a cinema trip, or £24 a month towards a bike, but not both. This is not a moral failing, it is arithmetic. Deciding the trade-off in advance, on purpose, is exactly what a budget is for.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 18

Quick check

The Halls have £40 and £52 of costs. Which should they pay first?

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Quick check

Part 14 of 18

Quick check

Savannah frees £6 a week. Over four weeks that is

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Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 18

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Calling something a need because it feels urgent. Urgency and necessity are different.
  • Deciding a want is shameful. Wants are fine; unplanned wants are what cause trouble.
  • Paying the friendliest bill first. Priority goes to whatever has the worst consequence if unpaid.
  • Thinking a budget removes trade-offs. It makes them visible and chosen instead of accidental.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 18

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Mastery quiz

Part 17 of 18

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Needs, wants and the choice in between

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. A need is something where not paying it

  2. 2. A trade-off means

  3. 3. Priority order should be based on

  4. 4. Shoes that fit versus this season's trainers is an example of

  5. 5. The most useful question about grey-area spending is

  6. 6. Wants in a budget should be

18

Lesson round-up

Part 18 of 18

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Should the town centre have a curfew for under-16s?

After a rise in reported vandalism, Harbrook council proposed that under-16s should not be in the town centre after 9 pm without an adult. Police recorded 62 incidents last year, most between 9 pm and midnight. Shopkeepers signed a petition supporting the plan.

A youth council objected. They pointed out that most young people in town at night were going home from sports clubs or work, that the plan punishes a whole group for the acts of a few, and that the library and the bus interchange are in the town centre. They asked instead for a late bus and a youth space.

The council voted to trial the curfew for six months and to publish the crime figures at the end.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Give the strongest point on each side of the argument, using a fact from the case.
  2. Whose rights and whose responsibilities are involved here? Explain both.
  3. Write your own view on the curfew with reasons and one example.

  • Reading and response

    Reading

    Read the case in the lesson again and write what you think should happen, and why it is fair. Use one fact from the case as evidence.

    2 paragraphs (PEE)

  • Extended writing

    Writing

    Write your answer to the lesson's big question in full: the strongest point on each side, then your own view with reasons and an example.

    250–350 words

  • Reading log

    Reading

    Find one news story this week that links to this lesson. Note the headline, where you read it, and how it connects.

    1 story, 4–5 sentences

  • Two sides of the argument

    Writing

    Write the strongest point for, the strongest point against, and then your own view with a reason.

    3 paragraphs

  • Poster or leaflet plan

    Diagram

    Plan a leaflet that explains this right or responsibility to someone your age, then photograph it.

    1 planned page

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover

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