Learning Destination Watch 7 - Spring 2014
Lynne Upton | 0161 907 5214| [email protected]|www.childrensuniversity.co.uk
Welcome to the ‘Learning Destination Watch 7 - Spring 2014’ update. There has been such a lot going on in the last few
months that we have decided to produce a separate CU Managers’ update, as well as a Learning Destination update this
spring. The theme running through both updates is support for consistency and quality assurance at local level – vital for
us all given our current rate of growth.
In this issue:
1. Keeping your public Learning Destinations updated
2. Direct links to new Learning Destinations
3. Validation – your questions answered
1. Keeping your public Learning Destinations updated

Record numbers of new activities validated
It’s hard to believe that three months have passed since the buzz of the Market Place at the Annual CU Conference –
since the beginning of the year we have added to our database an amazing 103 new public Learning Destinations with a
total of 184 activities. A big thank you to everyone who has helped the New Year off to a flying start – and a gentle
reminder to those who still have Learning Destinations and activities to add!
Expansion at this rate brings its challenges and our priority this year is to find the funding to build a Learning Destination
App, as well as to update the way the Learning Destination search displays results on the CU website. The map worked
well when we had fewer Learning Destinations, but we are now running into icon overload!

Sustaining consistency and quality in the validation process
Listening to your feedback from Validation Training, we want to do everything we can to keep the quality of validated
activities consistently high, as well as keeping the process as streamlined as possible. We are developing an additional
Frequently Asked Questions document, a draft of which is included at the end of this update. It is intended to reflect a
consistency of approach across local CUs and before we produce a final version, please let us have your comments and
suggestions for any areas we have missed. Please send your responses to [email protected] by 31st
March 2014.

Children’s University and ‘Social Action’- do you have any good ideas to share?
We are delighted to have been selected to take part in a Youth Social Action project in Middlesbrough and Lancashire,
run in partnership with the Education Endowment Foundation. As part of the project we need to create a range of
activities which reflect the principles of CU learning, and also involve young people in “taking practical action in the
service of others.” We are looking for potential CU activities which can ”bring benefits to the wider community as well
as the individuals themselves.” If you have an idea which has worked well, please tell us so we can learn from your
experience and offer these opportunities to more children through this project. Ultimately we could build your ideas
into a resource which could be made available to all CU Managers, and who knows, maybe even instigate the CU Social
Action Awards! Please email [email protected] with brief details of your ideas by 31st March 2014.
2. Direct links to new Learning Destinations

What’s new for 2014?
We are talking with a number of potential new national Learning Partners and nationally validated Learning
Destinations which we hope to be able to announce formally in early summer.
Watch this space for news on pilot schemes with Halfords and Pets at Home, as well as Surf Lifesaving GB.

Developing our partnership with Haven Holidays
In spring 2013 over 80 families were day guests of Haven Holidays at Marton Mere Holiday Park, where children earned
stamps in their Passport To Learning for a range of leisure and sporting activities. We are delighted that following this
pilot, CU passport holders on holiday with their families can now use their Passport To Learning at a further 6 parks
around the country on selected activities right throughout the season:
Hopton – Yarmouth; Blue Dolphin – Filey; Golden Sands – Mablethorpe; Marton Mere – Blackpool; Allhallows – Kent;
Kiln Park – Tenby.
We will shortly be launching the partnership formally – look out for more news and details of the offer on both our
websites.

Out and about with the Forestry Commission
CU students will soon be able to gain stamps in their Passport To Learning while exploring their local Forestry
Commission (FC) woodlands. 'Discover your Forest', an activity specifically designed for the CU, will be available to
download from www.forestry.gov.uk/england-learning from the end of March 2014. The activity is initially intended
for use at a number of key FC woodland sites across England. Details of these woodlands, and suitable trails to use at
each, will be available on www.childrensuniversity.co.uk.
Additional, local woodland sites where learners and their families will need to plan their own route, can be found by
visiting
www.forestry.gov.uk.
Completed
activity
sheets
can
be
scanned
and
e-mailed
to
[email protected] who will email a stamp for 2 hours for the Passport To Learning.
Follow up activities which are worth further hours in the passport are also available to download from the Forestry
Commission website.

Routes into Languages Challenge 11-14
The challenge is designed to be completed by children in their own time and was originally developed at Northgate High
School in Norfolk. Pupils accumulate points for completing 7 themed challenges, with the support of an older pupil as a
mentor. This could be an ideal springboard for support through an after school club, with mentors adding the activity to
their Passport To Volunteering. Norfolk CU are running this very successfully, for more information please go to
www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/east or email the Project Manager in the east: [email protected]

Arts in the Early Years
If you are looking for inspiration for creative activities for our youngest children, Earlyarts vision is to embed creative
approaches in every early years setting across the country. They are the largest network for Arts in the early years in
the UK, and share very similar principles to Forest Schools and Reggio Emilia. If you would like to find out more, please
go to: http://earlyarts.co.uk/store/creative-teaching-makes-sense/

RNLI latest
RNLI attracted a lot of interest at the Market Place during the Annual CU Conference in December 2013 with their free
volunteer-led water safety talks after school. Schools and children can also access additional resources here:
www.rnli.org/education. If you are interested, please contact your regional co-ordinator whose details are in the
October 2013 Learning Destination Update.
RNLI are one of a growing number of partners who are asking us for estimates of numbers of children participating. We
have committed to offering 1% of our passport holders (1,360 children) the opportunity to take part in a water safety
activity over 2 years. The activity could easily form a link to other environmental activities and visits – please consider
using them, as with a number of our national partners, if we don’t use them, we’ll lose them.

Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge
Holders of this quality badge are likely to be providing activities which would fit well with Children’s University. You can
identify the Quality Badge holders in your area by going to: www.lotcqualitybadge.org.uk – click on the ‘Search for a
Quality Badge holder’ box at the top of the home page to take you through to the searchable database where you can
also search on postcode, provision type, etc. If you have any difficulty accessing information for your area, please
contact [email protected] as we also hold a confidential copy of their database.
Advance warning for some Summer Favourites:

Sky Academy Skills Studios Update
Sessions were very popular last year, and for CUs within reasonable travelling distance of their site in Osterley, West
London, they offer a great experience. Bookings are now being taken for the summer holidays, from 23rd July 2014
onwards. To find out more, please go to: www.sky.com/academy

Summer Reading Challenge 2014
Planning is already well underway for this year’s Summer Reading Challenge – let’s make sure we give all our children
the opportunity to enjoy their reading and add up to 10 hours to their Children’s University Passport To Learning. This
summer’s theme is Mythical Maze. To find out more go to: http://readingagency.org.uk/children/quick-guides/summerreading-challenge/

Chatterbooks Reading Groups – all year round
If your children enjoyed the Summer Reading Challenge, why not work with your schools and libraries to set up a
Chatterbooks Reading Group for children 4-14?
There are lots of useful resources on the Reading Agency website to help set up and run a group, and the feedback from
children has been fantastic. The format has already been validated nationally for inclusion in the passport and you can
find out more here: http://readingagency.org.uk/children/quick-guides/chatterbooks/
And finally…..
Please read the Validation FAQs draft document which follows, let us have your feedback.
3. Children’s University Validation – your questions answered
These draft notes have been compiled from the many useful questions and discussions at Validation Training up and
down the country. As ever, our aim is to make sure that the principles underpinning our quality assurance framework
Planning for Learning are applied consistently from Aberdeen to Adelaide, Belfast to Bielefeld!
All CU Validators for public Learning Destinations must have attended a training session led by a member of the CU
Trust, and all CU Validators for restricted Learning Destinations must have been trained by their local CU Manager.
Please feel free to email suggested additions and amendments to be considered before the final document is added to
the Members’ area of the Children’s University website.
The most frequently asked questions are:

What mix of activities do children need to graduate?

What about passports for 4 year olds?

Deciding which activities to validate - how best to interpret voluntary, out of hours, widely accessible, creative
learning activities? Including teams, performances, uniformed organisations and faith groups.

Can CU activities be linked to visits and activities that take place in school time?

How do I work out how much time can be included in passports for residentials?

What about independent/family visits to museums, galleries, historic houses and monuments?

Are there any changes in expected outcomes for activities once children move from undergraduate (400 hours)
to post graduate and doctorate awards (400 – 1,000 hours)?

What is eligible to be included in the CU Passport To Volunteering?
To get the answers to these FAQs login to the Members area of the CU website
www.childrensuniversity.co.uk/membership/already-a-member-log-in/
And go to:
‘How To Guide – Validation Training’
Lynne Upton
Director of Learning
March 2014