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Kent Children's University

Kent Children's University is part of the Outdoor Learning service at The Education People, with a determination for improving outcomes for children and young people through innovation and creativity.

KCU aims to promote exciting learning opportunities and experiences outside of normal school hours for children aged 7 to 14 (and 5 and 6 year olds with their families). At the heart of its work is the ambition to raise aspirations, boost achievement and foster a love of learning, so that young people can make the most of their abilities and interests.

KCU does this by partnering with local tourist destinations and organisations to validate the quality of their provision for children and young people. These validated partners become known as Learning Destinations across Kent and beyond; where children can 'travel to' with their Passport to Learning and record the time they spend participating in high quality learning activities and experiences.

To celebrate achievement and raise aspiration, children are invited to attend a Graduation Ceremony hosted with the University of Kent, the University of Greenwich or Canterbury Christ Church University, at which they will receive an award based on the number of accredited hours they have recorded in their Passports.

Children's University can support schools to:

  • Develop impact evidence around the benefits of young people taking part in co-curricular opportunities - both on and off school site
  • Increase parental involvement in their child's learning
  • Use integrated IT systems to monitor hours and participation in co-curricular opportunities both on and off school site
  • Demonstrate and justify Pupil Premium or other budget spend
  • Look at School Improvement Plans and utilise learning outside the classroom to improvement attainment, achievement and attendance
  • Improve the confidence, independence and readiness for learning of the young people.

In response to feedback from schools, from September 2015 we are increasing access to the service by launching three different schemes through which young people and their families can benefit from the service:

  1. School subscriptions - over the last few years many schools have benefited from a school subscription which helps to evidence the benefits and promotion of extra-curricular opportunities, both in and out of school while demonstrating use of Pupil Premium and other budget spend.
  2. Discrete packages - rather than a full subscription, a school can engage with the service to provide access to the Children's University for individual classes or a discrete group of learners.
  3. Individual subscriptions - parents and carers have the opportunity to subscribe their children to the Children's University directly without school involvement. For schools who wish to promote the service to children and families rather than take out a subscription, we can provide you with information and support to do this.

For further information please visit The Children's University website.

Contact Details
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Kent Children's University
Telephone: 03000 41 68 86
Email: kcu@kent.gov.uk