What is Children’s University (CU)?
Children’s University is a charity that works in partnership with schools to develop a love of learning in children. This is done by encouraging and celebrating participation in extra-curricular activities in and outside of school. We are in our tenth year of participating with the Children’s University and our provision has gone from strength to strength. We were the first school in Sandwell to join the project and the most successful two form entry school within the Black Country.
What does Children’s University (CU) look like at Ryders Green?
At Ryders Green, we have a fantastic number of clubs on offer to children. These clubs run Monday-Thursday from 3:15pm – 4:15pm. All of our clubs are completely free of charge to children and are provided by our senior leaders and teachers. A number of our clubs are also run by specialist music teachers from SIPS music service.
Our current after-school club timetable for Spring 1 (2025-2026) is as follows:
Through participation in these after school clubs, children can earn hours towards their certificates. The more clubs that the children attend, the more hours they build up.
The hours that the children have achieved are recorded by Miss Johnson on an online portal. Should the children continue to take part in after school clubs, their hours will progress as they move through the school. The hours are not reset when a child moves up the next year group.
What are the graduations like? What certificates do the children receive?
Graduations are events which celebrate both the commitment by children to the after school clubs and the hard work that they display in these clubs.
At a graduation, each graduate is called in turn to collect their certificate by either Miss Allden or a representative of Wolverhampton University. At our gold graduations, a guest speaker usually speaks, sharing their educational journey with our aspiring graduates.
The more hours of after school clubs that the children complete, the further they move through the awards. The following certificates are available:
We currently have two graduations which take place at the end of each academic year. When children reach the certificate milestones, parents are invited to watch their child graduate in a cap and gown.
June – An in school graduation recognising children for bronze and silver achievements.
July – A special graduation at the University of Wolverhampton to celebrate gold achievements from the academic year. A truly memorable day for children and parents. A professional photographer is present to take photos that are then given to children as a keepsake for the day.
Please note: After school club hours are collected and updated at the end of each term. The Children’s University Co-ordinator collates the club hours and prepares for ceremonies. There is a cut off date in April in order for the hours to be collated ready for the graduations.
Where a child does not achieve the hours for their next certificate, these hours can be built upon during the next term to ensure that they get there. For those children in Year 6 who are due to leave us, the hours deadline has some extension rules authorised by our school co-ordinator and the University of Wolverhampton.
Who can get involved?
Children’s University is on offer for all children in Years 1-6. We have recently started to offer more clubs for children in Reception, so that they can become familiar with staying for after school clubs. A wider range then becomes available when the children move into Key Stage One.
What was awarded at our latest graduation ceremony?
At our most recent graduation ceremoies in June and July 2025, we celebrated our highest number of graduates so far, with 267 certificates being recieved. The table below shows how many hours our children achieved.
| Hours | Type of Award | Number of Children |
| 30 | Bronze Award | 41 |
| 65 | Silver Award | 41 |
| 100 | Gold Award | 43 |
| 130 | Bronze Certificate | 26 |
| 165 | Silver Certificate | 39 |
| 200 | Gold Certificate | 35 |
| 230 | Bronze Diploma | 22 |
| 265 | Silver Diploma | 11 |
| 300 | Gold Diploma | 5 |
| 330 | Bronze Degree | 2 |
| 365 | Silver Degree | 1 |
| 400 | Gold Degree | 1 |
COMING SOON: Holiday challenge activities:
At the end of every half term, a holiday challenge sheet is emailed out.
The children are informed of what the activity is, what they need to do and what evidence they need to provide in order to achieve their extra hours.
All evidence is then returned by the given cut-off date to: childrensuniversity@rydersgreen.sandwell.sch.uk
The hours will go towards each child’s overall CU total.
Career aspirations
On an annual basis Wolverhampton University provide outreach sessions for Y5 children called ‘Lego University.’ These sessions give children an insight into what university is like as the children look at the different buildings that can be found at a university and what they are for. The sesssions inspire children to see the possibilites for them to continue their education and achieve their dreams.
