On this page you will find questions that have been asked by people who have contacted us to find out more about the Children's University.
What is the Children's University?
The Children's University is a national organisation offering children aged 7-14 an exciting and innovative programme of high quality learning opportunities outside school hours, with a focus on rewarding participation, raising aspirations and encouraging engagement with learning.
Children's University provision is delivered after school, at weekends and in the holidays.
Who is the Children's University for?
The Children's University is aimed at 7 to 14 year olds of all abilities.
Is participation recognised and rewarded?
Children are encouraged to progress through the national certification scheme, based on their number of hours of attendance throughout their involvement with the Children's University. Initially, they will aim to gain a Bronze certificate, awarded for 30 hours of attendance. Thereafter, a Silver is awarded for achieving 65 hours of attendance, and a Gold for 100 hours of attendance.
For information about CU certification click here.
What is a Children's University centre?
Local Children's University centres are diverse in shape and size: some may be quite small clusters of schools whilst others may involve much wider local partnerships of schools, universities and local authorities, as well as business partnerships, museums, galleries, theatres and other organisations. The national Children's University supports whichever approach will work best locally to bring benefits to children.
The strength of the Children's University is its flexibility to meet local needs through these local CU centres. Our different centres offer high quality learning in many forms. While this may be in ‘traditional’ academic subjects, the Children's University also seeks to complement the work of schools by offering diverse opportunities and supporting innovative approaches to learning. A centre may offer art, astronomy or drama, music or maths, science or sport, philosophy, poetry or photography, or any combination of these and other subjects according to the expertise available locally.
For information about the nearest CU to you click here.
How do I set up a new Children's University centre?
In the first instance you should contact the national Children's University for a discussion and advice. In the meantime, you can find out more about the national Children's University through the various sections on this website. You can also discover more about existing CU centres, where they are and what they do. Existing centres will more than happy to have an informal chat with you. To find out how to contact the nearest existing CU centre to you click here. You can of course contact us at the national Children's University any time.
What funding is available? How do I apply for it?
Funding may be available from the national Children's University. To access this information and details about the application process click here. For more information about funding you can also contact us.
If you have any questions you would like to ask us, then …