Children’s University Trust
The Children’s University Trust promotes “limitless learning beyond the classroom”.
It works closely with all kinds of learning providers and activity leaders to offer children a wide variety of opportunities to children.
By the time a child turns 18, they will have spent just 9% of their waking life in a classroom: Children’s University is about making the most of the remaining 91%.
Size:
- Revenue in most recent annual accounts (2021-22): £595,000. Note that £283,000 of that relates to the second EEF evaluation underway.
- About 112,000 children are involved in Children’s University, in about ~1000 schools across England, Wales and Scotland. That is pupils in about ~5% of English schools pupils.
- Children’s University Trust itself has four staff (& one to manage the EEF trial): most of the work of recruiting schools, organising graduation ceremonies etc. is done by local partners.
Age: Founded in 2007
Proportion of charity’s expenditure covered by the evaluated programme: 100%
Charity number: 1118315 and OSCR in Scotland: SC052423
Children’s University is fundamentally about social mobility and equality of opportunity: children in wealthier families typically do many extra-curricular activities which are thought to increase learning (and confidence and other skills), whereas children in poorer families typically do not.
The national Children’s University Trust recruits ‘partners’ who each run Children’s University in their geographical region, by serving schools . Children get access to over 11,000 validated extra-curricular learning activities, each of which is catalogued with a unique code and findable on the online system run by Children’s University Trust. Each child has a ‘Passport to Learning’ (a physical log as well as an online log) in which they record their various extra-curricular learning activities. Children’s University’s model is to “encourage, track and celebrate” children doing these activities.
Children’s University is open to any child aged 5+: most participants are in Years 4-8 (ages 8-13 years).
Why the Good Giving List recommends the Children’s University Trust
An independent evaluation (randomised controlled trial) of Children’s University, published in 2017 with pupils in Years 5 & 6 (i.e., primary school, Key Stage 2), found that it increased pupils’ attainment in reading and maths by the equivalent of two months.
That evaluation was funded and published by the Education Endowment Foundation, a charity which is the UK’s What Works Centre for education.
The finding for maths has moderate security (EEF gives it three out of five ‘padlocks’, which indicate EEF’s confidence in the findings: five is the maximum), and the finding for reading has low to moderate security (two out of five padlocks).
How Children’s University uses donations
In the main, to provide Children’s University to more pupils and schools. About 5% of the children of the relevant age enrolled currently.
Increasing that will involve:
- Recruiting more partners to run Children’s University in their local areas
- Developing digital ways
- Figuring out a way for pupils to use Children’s University even if their school does not offer it, and / or there is no Children’s University partner serving their geographic area.
Underpinning that work is Children’s University’s analysis of the data on its online system (from children’s Passports to Learning) about which children are participating in what kinds of activities.
For instance, that shows the geographic ‘cold spots’ where participation is particularly low and where more local partners are needed.
All photos credited to the charity