Hello
All
As
you probably remember Shropshire Children’s University was launched last year
at St Peter’s C of E Primary School in Wem with great ceremony and a visit from Ger Graus
the CEO of the CU Trust nationally.
Since
then we have spread our net across the county: Our most northern school is
Whixall CE Primary School and our most Southern is Cleobury Mortimer Primary
School. So a pretty good spread (112 miles round trip for those of you
interested!)
As
luck would have it the week leading up to our birthday (26th May )
is a busy one. We will be holding our second graduation ceremony at Saint Peter’s
in Wem on Wednesday 23rd May with circa 60 graduands. We have our
first gold graduate at this ceremony.
On
Friday we are at Cleobury Mortimer Primary School where we will be taking part
in the Summer Fair. Whack it Smack it and Enginuity will be offering validated learning
activity and Shropshire Wildlife Trust will also be there.
We
will also be announcing rather special birthday wishes we have received during
the course of the week and maybe unveiling some new logos and icons, which I
think you’ll like.
These
will be used in conjunction with the national logos.
In
June we have graduations at Whixall Primary School and Lower Heath as well as
our first Gold Graduation Ceremony which will be hosted by the University of
Birmingham on 27th June. Those children who have attained a Gold
Award from the three graduating schools will travel to the Edgbaston campus for
a VIP visit with tours, activities and a special graduation ceremony in one of
the university’s iconic buildings.
We have had some press coverage over the last
week with a short article in the Shropshire Star on Tuesday 15th May
and a not so short interview (time bar 1.11.14 is the start) with yours truly on the Jim Hawkins show on RadioShropshire Thursday 17th May.
New Providers and
Schools
We
now have seven schools signed up and active with several in the wings. We look
forward to welcoming Harlescott Junior School on board very shortly.
As
a result of the radio broadcast we are now talking to several potential
providers who got in touch after the show. We have also invited representatives
from providers and destinations that parents and children have told us they
think we should be validating to graduation ceremonies.
.
We
are also in the process of validating Bearstone and Napley Farm on the Staffordshire/Shropshire
border as a learning destination and provider. As a working farm this will only
be open to organised group visits.
We
have validated more provision within Shropshire Libraries including organised
visits, craft activities and author visits and workshops. We have also
increased the number of credits available for completing the Summer Reading
Challenge. It is now worth 6 credits.
Also
a reminder to everyone that Snailbeach Lead Mine and Wem Cricket Club were
validated last month and offer CU credit for some activities.
As
always we are talking to a number of schools and providers whom we hope to
welcome aboard shortly. We are also interested in what our current providers
are up to and what events they have organised that we can publicise to other CU
members and our passport holders.
Also,
just a quick thank you to all our members and partners for making our first
year such a special and successful one and of course a big thank you to all
those children who get involved in the activities-after all they are what it is
all about
That’s
all for now
Pete
