Blackburn Children’s University's 'Greatest Day'

Hi everyone,

News from the CU network today!  This one's from Sara Casey, Blackburn CU Manager:

On Thursday 15th October 2015, over 60 Children’s University members sang at King George’s Hall, Blackburn for the University Centre’s Graduation.  They sang Take That's inspirational song ‘Greatest Day’ at all three ceremonies.

By attending a 'grown up' graduation, the children were able to see where they could be in years to come and what they could aspire to become. They shared the Hall with people who have mastered a huge range of academic skills, giving them just a glimpse of what the future might hold for them.

This was a very special opportunity and it is the third year Blackburn Children’s University have been invited to sing.  You can see some pictures from this special occasion below, including a shot showing the size of the venue and the audience that our inspiration young people performed for.



Do you have any stories from your part of the CU network that you'd like to see here? Tell me about it at contactus@childrensuniversity.co.uk and I'll be in touch - I look forward to hearing from many of you!

Catch you next time!

Ian

Norfolk CU Graduation Success

For our first full blog post, we thought we'd go BIG! And they don't come much bigger than Norfolk Children's University's graduation season this year...

Children's University (CU) encourages young people to develop a passion for learning outside of the normal school day. For every hour of extracurricular learning they complete, they get one step closer to being awarded our undergraduate degree, postgraduate degree and, ultimately, our Fellowship award (1,000 hours).

Over 1,200 children from more than 40 schools graduated last week in Norfolk's stonking celebration of their amazing achievements.

Worthy of particular note are 12 year old Alex Skinner and 10 year old Brooke Marjoram, both of whom clocked up over 800 hours of learning with Norfolk CU! These hours have been spent doing a phenomenal range of activities, from dancing and scuba diving to learning circus skills and visiting museums.

Alex even made a video, which was shown at his graduation, showcasing his achievements and the impact that CU has had on his life!

The Norfolk children's hard work, and in particular that of Brooke and Alex, has been a big hit with the local media as well, resulting in an online news story and the two Doctors being invited onto Norwich's Mustard TV to talk about their experience. Check out Alex and Brooke's interview below - they're stars in the making!

 

Excerpt from The Mustard Show: Episode 298 (18th June 2015) - Many thanks to Ian Rudd from Mustard TV for giving permission to use this clip

Graduations at CUs such as Norfolk's are huge fixtures in the calendar. Modelled on 'grown up' graduations, the children attended an awards ceremony (complete with gowns and mortarboards) at the University of East Anglia. They were then given an interactive tour of the campus to highlight the benefits of attending university.

Raising the profile of the event even further was Norfolk CU's Chancellor, award-winning author of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin', Louis De Bernières (shown on the right of this picture). He presented awards to the children, taking part in the celebrations.

In a fitting closing comment for our first post celebrating our children's achievements, De Bernières said, "If you want to be successful and get the most out of life, you should go a bit further than you have to. That’s what the Children’s University does - it adds extra quality to children’s learning." 

If you have a story about your experiences with Children's University that you'd like to share with us, please get in touch - we'd love to hear from you!

Catch you next time!

Ian


Photo Credits: Julia Holland