Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Our students have the opportunity to be involved in an exciting program: ‘Children’s University Australasia and Africa (IO)’.  Children’s University (CU) aims to encourage high quality out of school activities for children aged between 8 and 14 years, engaging the wider community as learning partners in this process.  The most important principles of CU are that participation is voluntary and activities must take place outside the normal school day during lunch, after school, weekends and holidays. 

Led by the University of Adelaide, CU aims to nurture aspirations and develop a love of learning. Children and young people enrolled in CU are issued with a ‘Passport to Learning’ which records their individual learning journey.  After the first 30 hours of learning, children are rewarded for their participation at a graduation ceremony held at the University of Adelaide or a prestigious venue in regional areas.  Children can graduate multiple times depending on the hours they accrue. Information on the hours, and award levels, can be found in the ‘Passport to Learning’.

Participating students have access to activities at school, online and also in the wider community (Learning Destinations).  These activities have been validated by CU trained staff as good learning experiences.  Once your child becomes a member, a full list of Learning Destinations can be found at www.cuaustralasia.com by logging on to the Learning Portal*.

CU members are also able to earn 10 hours from Regular Restricted Activities.  These are external organisations where students are paying members and attend regularly (e.g. sporting clubs, dance studios, swimming centres etc.).  In order to earn hours, students who participate in these activities complete a ‘Review’ form either in the CU portal or in hard copy issued by the CU school coordinator.

Please note that CU is not compulsory, children are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning, choosing what to do from a variety of offerings.  All CU learning is designed to inspire children to think about their futures with a greater knowledge of the careers and professions that they could aspire to.

Students are enrolled in CU when they receive their Passport to Learning.  The annual fee for 2021 is $33.00 (inc. GST) with all replacement passports incurring a fee of $5.50 (inc GST). Please note that membership fees for School Card Holders will remain at $16.50 (inc GST) per student also.

* The Learning Portal requires children to log in using a username and password. Once your CU school coordinator receives your membership consent form it will be sent to CU, who will issue your child a Passport to Learning, login details, handouts and guidelines to assist you and your child with navigating the website.  These resources will be sent back to your CU school coordinator for collection.  Please note that Children’s University and the University of Adelaide take the privacy of our members seriously and a detailed privacy policy can be found here https://www.adelaide.edu.au/legals/privacy/.

If your child would like to participate, please click here to download the form (available from the Front Office if you are unable to download and print) and bring it into the Front Office, with payment, at your earliest convenience, by next week.