29 Oct 2024
Children's University
Overview
London South East Children’s University (CU) is an award programme that encourages and rewards children aged 5 to 14 for getting involved in lots of exciting extra-curricular activities to develop their knowledge and skills whilst increasing their aspirations for the future.
We work across Bexley, Bromley, and Greenwich and are part of a wider network of Children’s Universities across the UK, meaning that children can also earn stamps wherever they are in the country. Children receive a “Passport to Learning” and gain a time stamp for every validated activity completed, whether this be attending extra-curricular clubs in their school, attending sessions at a Learning Destination or completing a Children’s University challenge. Each activity of CU-validated learning brings the child closer to a Children’s University graduation certificate which is presented at a locally-organised CU graduation ceremony. The hours accumulate each year, so children can earn different achievement levels and awards depending on the number of hours they have achieved.
Cory partnership…
We were first introduced to Fiona at Cory during our pilot year in 2019 and this led to us supporting events being hosted by Cory, such as the Ecofestival, whilst also having Cory sponsoring a number of passports for families attending these events. This meant that families could join Children’s University even if their child’s school was not a Children’s University school. In the past couple of years, this partnership has developed into Cory sponsoring schools, rather than just individual children or families, and they now sponsor three schools in Bexley: Aspire Academy, Woodside Academy and Parkway Primary School. This has meant that schools have been able to join Children’s University which were not previously able to do so, and it is fantastic that two of these schools are special schools, meaning pupils with social, emotional and mental health and autism are able to benefit from being a part of Children’s University thanks to Cory.
Results
We now work with over 3,500 pupils across 19 schools in Bexley and since our pilot year in 2018-2019, we have held graduations for 2,056 pupils who have accumulated over 93,000 hours of extra-curricular learning! This is an incredible achievement and is testament to the importance of learning outside the classroom. We have also been able to develop relationships with organisations who have helped to host family workshops, such as Fire Fighting Workshops with the London Fire Brigade and Family Cookery Workshops and Eco-Workshops with Bexley’s Waste and Recycling Team. Our hope is to continue offering our incredible pupils lots of different ways to earn stamps and help to inspire them and raise aspiration.
“We are so grateful to the team at Cory, and Fiona in particular, for their support of the Children’s University scheme and how this support has enabled more children and young people to be a part of the scheme. The schools involved have really benefitted from being a part of this scheme and it has been wonderful seeing so many children get involved and graduating. Thank you, Cory and Fiona!”