The Children's University is a unique national project, providing, supporting, facilitating and certificating “… learning in the wild …” (outside of normal school hours) rather than “… learning in captivity …” for children aged 7 to 14. It provides a national framework that aims to ensure that every child has access to high quality out-of-school learning experiences. The Children's University is a national UK wide organisation that recognises, through its certificates, the involvement of children in out-of-school-hours learning. It involves an increasing family of local CUs across the UK (and further afield) in exciting an innovative programmes. It focuses on rewarding participation, raising aspirations and encouraging engagement with learning. The aspiration of the Children's University is to make its provision available to as many children and their families, and to be universal.
The Children's University in the United Kingdom began as a Saturday school project in Birmingham in the early 1990s. During the next decade a dozen or so local Children's University centres were started all over the country, across England, Wales and Scotland, offering a variety of out-of-school-hours learning experiences to children.
The Children's University has since evolved, forging new partnerships that bring together members of the former Children's University Advisory Committee, the Sutton Trust, the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the Independent Schools' Council, Playing for Success, Quality in Study Support, ContinYou, University of the First Age and many others. In 2007 the CU Trust was founded, the Chief Executive, Ger Graus, appointed and the national head office established in Manchester.
The national Children's University is an influential body with commitment to and experience in developing out of-school-learning on a national stage. The profile and experience of key partners within the Children's University make it better equipped than ever to further develop the Children's University nationwide.
The Children's University has experience and expertise in out-of-hours provision (including extended schooling, study support, personalised learning, and, where appropriate, gifted and talented provision), and in forging partnerships between primary, secondary, state and independent schools, Local Authorities and Further and Higher Education, community and business organisations. The expansion of the Children's University coincides with a growing interest in and support for redefining learning within and beyond Government, and we are well placed to be a major contributor to these developments on a national scale.
Analysis of existing and successful Children's Universities has demonstrated that their ability to build local partnerships and to respond to local circumstances has been a crucial factor in their successful development. The national structure reflects the wish to retain a devolved and flexible approach while creating a national voice and support structure for local Children's Universities.
As well as generally encouraging and supporting the development of Children's Universities across the whole of the UK, we have a number of additional key priorities:
- To sustain and further develop those Children's Universities which are currently active, utilizing our partnerships across England, Wales and Scotland.
- To lead on and fund the ‘start-up’ of new Children's Universities.
- To develop and implement a national validation framework that will 'kite-mark' high quality out-of-school-hours learning leading to national CU certification.
The national Children's University is responsible for: strategic planning; resource procurement at national level; registration, certification and quality assurance of local CUs; and support of local leadership. It will provide networking facilities, conferences and website access for the exchange of ideas and materials, as well as start-up funding for new Children's Universities and expansion funding for existing ones. It will provide a voice to Government at a national level in support of extended schooling, will promote the ‘brand’ of the Children's University, and will evaluate, with its partners, Children's University provision. Much of this work will be undertaken in partnership with Leadership for Learning: The Cambridge Network, led by Professor John MacBeath.
The CU Trust is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. The Children's University™ is a registered trade mark owned by the CU Trust.
The Children's University national head office is based at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. The national Children's University is funded by the Sutton Trust and partners and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.