The 2023 North Wales Pilot

The Children’s University, which aims to inspire a love of learning among children and young people by promoting and rewarding learning activities, is being expanded across North Wales, after securing more than £800,000 of funding.

Wrexham Glyndwr University and a number of partners including Bangor University, will pilot the Children’s University across Conwy, Denbighshire, Gwynedd and Anglesey until February 2024.

Funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) will be used to recruit staff across the region and the new teams will engage with over 40+ schools and 1000 young people.

Building on the success of the Wrexham & Flintshire 2021 pilot, pupils will be challenged to complete 30 hours of extracurricular and volunteering activities, in their schools, in their community, online and at home, in order to gain stamp codes which turn into time.

Those young people who achieve their Bronze certificate, 30 hours, will be invited to don a cap and gown and attend an extra special Graduation ceremony rewarding their hard work.

Visit our YouTube channel to see what the young people in the 2021 Pilot got up to.

Interested in taking part?

We are now looking for innovative and creative schools to join the North Wales Pilot. The grant will fund 35 young people, per school, to become members of the Children’s University from September 2023 to February 2024.

Each young person will receive a

• Passport to Learning
• CU Online account
• Certificates for achieving 30 hours
• An invitation to attend a Graduation Ceremony in January / February 2024

Each staff member will receive

• Training
• Template letters and
• A CU Online account
• Support throughout the Pilot

Each school will have to commit to appointing two dedicated CU coordinators with good IT and communication skills who will be responsible for the in-house organisation of the scheme.

If you work with young people in school years 4 to 8 and are interested in enrolling a group of up to 35 young people into the scheme, find out more and register your interest by clicking here.

Please note that completion of the registration form does not denote acceptance onto the scheme.

Need more information?

If you would like to learn more about the Children’s University before completing the expression of interest form, please attend one of the online information sessions being run on the following days and times;

• Monday 22nd May at 10am
• Wednesday 24th May at 2.30pm
• Thursday 25th May at 1.30pm
• Friday 26th May at 4pm
• Monday 5th June at 1.30pm
• Tuesday 6th June at 9.30am
• Wednesday 7th June at 12.30pm
• Thursday 8th June 9.30am
• Friday 9th June at 11am

Please register your attendance on your preferred session by emailing -  childrens.university@glyndwr.ac.uk

North Wales Pilot FAQs

Is my school eligible to apply?

If you work with young people in years 4 - 6 in primary school or year 7 or 8 in secondary school, and offer activities where learning takes place and taking part is optional, we can work with you.

Who should take part?

Your school will be able to choose which young people are to take part in the scheme, but we do ask that consideration be given to;

• Children entitled to Free School Meals
• Children who are Looked After
• Children with Additional Learning Needs
• Children who are Gypsy Traveller
• Children who are EAL
• Children with disabilities
• Children who are BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic)
• Children in families where no parent/carer has been to University
• Children who are at risk of disengaging from school
• Young carers

What happens after the pilot ends?

The young people involved will be able to keep their Passports to Learning and will be encouraged to investigate the activities provided in the wider community by validated Learning Destinations.

Schools who choose to continue will be advised of the annual membership fee that will be payable once the pilot ends.