Children’s University visit Cardiff Business School

A scheme designed to encourage and develop a love of learning in children continues in its success.

Cardiff University and Cardiff Council are working in partnership with the Children’s University, a UK charity which works with local education authorities, schools and community partners to deliver a range of educational sessions for children.

The scheme gives pupils access to more than 90 different activities covering art and music, science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) as well as business and finance, cultural and graphics design modules, each contributing towards a ‘Passport to Learning’.

An initial pilot scheme held in 2022 saw more than 400 children across the city get involved, including young people from St Mary the Virgin Church in Wales Primary in Butetown, St Fagan’s Primary, Peter Lea Primary in Fairwater and Windsor Clive Primary in Ely. The schools involved benefitted from in-person and virtual sessions with new online learning resources developed to facilitate many more children to participate in the future.

Based on positive feedback from participating schools, both Cardiff University and Cardiff Council committed additional funding to expand the project to ensure more children can benefit from gaining a range of skills and experience, as well as exciting insights from some of our leading academics.

In the latest round of Children’s University activities, 54 Year 6 pupils from two schools from the Pentwyn area of Cardiff – St David’s Church in Wales Primary School and Bryn Celyn Primary School – visited Cardiff Business School on 23 March.  The children enjoyed varied sessions provided by the Schools of Business, History and Modern Languages. The children visited the hedgehog garden, built bug hotels, and learned about invertebrate species and animal biobanking. They enjoyed a journey back to medieval times making chainmail armour as well as an excellent session offered by our School of Modern Languages learning all about language trees.

The event also included a demonstration of BT’s ground-breaking 360 degree immersive classroom technology. The children were presented with a showreel of immersive content where they could not only observe, but see and feel what it’s like to be in real life situations, with educational games, touch-wall experiences and much more.

Vice Chancellor of Cardiff University Professor Colin Riordan said: “We recognise the important role Cardiff University has in supporting and inspiring young people to expand their learning and fulfil their true potential. Our series of Children’s University programmes provides opportunities for local children from our diverse communities to gain a range of skills which could one day lead them to study at university”

Cardiff University’s Centre for Student Life will host a Children’s University graduation ceremony for participating children and their grown-ups from across the city in June 2023.

Get involved

Are you an academic school interested in hosting and delivering Children’s University activities in-person or online?

Are you a primary school interested in taking part in the Children's University?

Contact the Children’s University team: info-childrensuniversity@cardiff.ac.uk