Mediaboss Marketing

by Carys Lloyd

YOUNG people will have a passport to exciting new out-of-school-hours learning experiences with the launch of a Childrens University in the Isle of Man.

Childrens University offers all five to 14-year-olds access to a wide range of opportunities and activities that take place outside of the normal school day.

Pupils buy a passport for just 2 and obtain stamps by visiting validated Learning Destinations, both locally and further afield. Certificates chart their progress and are awarded at a graduation ceremony where children wear caps and gowns.

An accompanying E-Passport will even allow children to rate the activities they have attended. It will also allow schools to manage childrens participation in a more efficient way.

Carys Lloyd, who leads Childrens University in the Island, said: Childrens University is about having fun with learning and gaining a real sense of achievement at the same time. Its about giving our children opportunities to choose their own pathways into learning, aiming to raise their aspirations, broaden their horizons and build their confidence and self-belief.

Public Learning Destinations that have been validated so far include Manx Sport and Recreations many clubs for children, run at the NSC and other venues, the Manx Youth Orchestra, which rehearses on Saturdays, has several offshoot groups and enjoys foreign tours, Manx Heritage Foundations Bree, a Manx music youth movement that features a monthly Saturday afternoon music session and regular workshop days and weekends, a number of activities run by the Manx Wildlife Trust and Film School, which is run by Community Arts, DCCL.

Museums and other sporting and cultural activities will soon be displaying the black and gold Childrens University Learning Destination logo.

Attending the many lunchtime and after-school clubs and activities at restricted Learning Destinations, such as participating schools and clubs and societies they belong to, will also qualify children for passport stamps. The Isle of Man Childrens University is a charitable trust funded by a Henry Bloom Noble education endowment, a grant from the institution nationally and sponsorship. Celebrated wildlife artist Dr Jeremy Paul, from Colby, has agreed to be its Chancellor.

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Children’s University is launched in the Isle of Man