On 26 November, a team of four Oundle School pupils, Ali Mason (18), Nico Lethbridge (17), Charlie Law (17) and George Chatterton (17), won the Regional Heat of the Target Two Point Zero Bank of England and Times Interest Rate Challenge held at the Leicestershire County Cricket Club.
Teams had to act as the real Monetary Policy Committee would and undertake economic research and analysis by examining current economic conditions, and assessing the outlook for the economy and inflation. They then had to present their findings to a panel of judges in competition with other schools in the area and make a monetary policy recommendation with supporting arguments and evidence to achieve the Government’s inflation target of 2.0%.
The Oundle team recommended an interest rate of 0.5% compared with the Bank of England’s official rate of 0.5% set by the Monetary Policy Committee on 5 November 2015. They also recommended a total of £375bn of asset purchases under the Asset Purchase Facility, compared with the £375bn agreed by the MPC on 5 November 2015.
The team from Stamford Endowed Schools, were runners up. The other schools in the heat were: Leicester Grammar School, Oakham School, Spalding Grammar School, The Beauchamp College, Leicester, Uppingham School, Oakham and Wellingborough School.
The chair of the judging panel, Alastair Cunningham, said, “An exciting heat – while all but one team came to the same policy decision, the breadth and diversity of evidence brought to bear was impressive.”
Oundle Economics teacher, Mrs Fiona Quiddington, who felt the group performed particularly well in the ten minute question round, commented, “The questions from the MPC members were challenging and each team member responded in an astute, considered and factual manner. We look forward to training for the area final in February.”
The Area Finals will take place in February 2016.