Children's University (CU) Scotland helps children to celebrate learning they take part in beyond the classroom and outside of school lesson time. We promote opportunities for children to engage in fun, voluntary learning at happens at home, at school break times or in the community. We help children recognise and celebrate their achievements beyond the school curriculum.
Children aged 5-14 sign up to Children's University Scotland through their school.
When they sign up, children receive two tools to help them record their learning - a Passport to Learning, and an Aspire account. The Passport to Learning looks just like a normal passport, and children can use this tool as their very own record of all the fantastic learning they've been engaging with. Aspire is their online platform for recognising and celebrating extracurricular learning.
CU members logon to their Aspire account to collect CU credits for taking part in a range of learning activities - whether it's a reading challenge, playing in a school sports team, learning to play an instrument or visiting an art gallery, castle, science centre or nature reserve. The opportunities are almost endless.
We reward children's commitment to learning through awards and certificates, which we present at Children’s University graduation events across Scotland. CU graduation events can happen in school, in a community venue or at a local college or university. Children wear a cap and gown, and celebrate their wider learning with their teachers, families and friends - just like a 'grown-up' graduation.
Your Passport To Learning helps you record learning that happens outside normal lesson time. This could be learning you take part in at home, at local venues or during school break times.
Learning doesn't just take place in the classroom, it can happen anywhere. You can collect credits at libraries, youth groups, sports centres, nature reserves, at home...the list is endless.
Held at schools, colleges and universities, our graduations are inspirational events for parents, friends and teachers as well as children. They help children recognise what they've achieved with CU.
My favourite activity is with Brian the Park Ranger because he teaches me a lot like tree names. One tree name is an ash and another is a rowan, but my favourite tree is an oak! My proudest moment was wearing my own blue gown and hat and being welcomed in to Queen Margaret University for the first time. I liked flinging my hat in the air when we went outside. I was beaming from ear to ear and could not wait to go for two days!
Hope
Age 7
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CU members areaWhether you're a parent, child, school, local authority, university or college, you can find out what the next steps are to getting involved here
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