Kent Children's University

After nearly 25-years of operating with children, schools and families, a decision by Kent County Council and The Education People has been made to decommission Kent Children’s University (KCU). This means that KCU will cease activity on Friday 20 September, following which KCU will close.

There are, however, ways that you can carry on your Children’s University journey directly with Children’s University Trust. Children’s University Trust is the national organisation that co-ordinates Children’s University with an array of national partners. They have a number of ways to support you despite the decommissioning of our service locally. You will find details below.

We would like to thank all the children, families, schools and partner organisations with whom KCU has worked with and all the individuals who have taken part in and enjoyed our programme, events, graduations, at-home challenges and activities.

Below you will find some practical notes regarding this closure but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with KCU before Friday 20 September. If you have any questions after this date, please contact either the Children’s University Trust or The Education People.

Finally, we would like to thank you all for being a part of KCU’s story and wish you all the very best for the academic year and beyond.

The Education People

For schools >>

Refund for the lost service: If you have not already, you will soon receive a refund from The Education People for your Kent Children’s University membership.

Outstanding certificates: KCU will carry out a sweep on Children’s University Online (CUO) and print/post out any outstanding certificates. KCU will do this the week beginning the 16 September so that gives school staff time to update CUO after the summer holiday.

Continuing with Children’s University: Should you wish to continue with Kent Children’s University, you can do so through the Children’s University Trust. You could sign up as a Children’s University licensee and receive all the tools you need to run CU in your school, or multi-academy trust directly through the Children’s University Trust. Please email Sonya Christensen to find out more about ‘Children’s University in a Box’.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE – Children’s University Online: If you are a school that uses Children’s University Online (CUO), the data will be deleted by the 13 November unless you transfer to the Children’s University Trust database as part of their ‘Children’s University in a Box’ scheme.

KCU is happy to talk you through this process before the 20 September or you can contact Cordelia Howard to make this happen. Please note that Cordelia has only just returned from maternity leave so you might need to wait a little while for a response.

If you decide that your adventure with Children’s University is over, do take time to download the data for your school and encourage individual learners and their parents/carers to take screenshots of their dashboard so the detailed records of their progress are not lost.

For more information and support with Children’s University Online, please click here.

Signposting families to the Children’s University Trust online subscription model: Should you not wish to continue with Children’s University as a school, do consider sharing the Children’s University Trust membership information with your parents and carers.

Future contact details: For any additional Children’s University queries, please email the Children’s University Trust or visit Children's University to find information on any of the following:

For any The Education People enquiries, please send your email to our customer services team.

For families >>

Refund for the lost service: If you have not already, you will soon receive a refund from The Education People for your Kent Children’s University membership.

Outstanding certificates: KCU will carry out a sweep on Children’s University Online (CUO) and print/post out any outstanding certificates. KCU will do this the week beginning the 16 September so that gives you time to update CUO with any outstanding CU Learning Credits (including for the KCU Summer Challenge, which KCU is in the process of issuing).

Continuing with Children’s University: The Children’s University Trust offers an online subscription model for those that wish to continue with Children’s University. You can find out more here.

If you decide to continue, you will need to register for a new Children’s University Online account via the Children’s University Trust by taking out an online subscription. In order to retain the hours your child has already achieved with KCU you will need to:

take a note/screenshot of the number of hours your child has achieved so far
create a parent account on the Children’s University Trust website
sign up your child for a Children’s University Trust online subscription
email Liam Nolan with a screenshot or note of the hours achieved so far. You can find Liam’s details below.

Once you have completed these steps, Liam will add the total hours to your child’s new Children’s University Online platform. Please note that the data that sits behind the hours (such as Learning Destinations visited, and skills acquired) will not be transferred across so you will need to take screenshots for your own records.

The Children’s University Trust has kindly said that they will keep your KCU CUO accounts live until the 13 November so that gives you time to decide whether you would like to continue. It also gives you time to screenshot any evidence you require from the platform.

We would recommend, even if you decide to leave Children’s University, that you should screenshot the data highlighting your child’s achievements from their Children’s University Online account. That way you will have PDF copies to highlight the following:

hours achieved
certificates achieved
subjects studied
destinations visited
activities completed
skills acquired.

To find out more about Children’s University Online, please click on Help in your child’s CUO account or email Liam Nolan.

Leaving Children’s University: Should you decide that you do not wish to continue with Children’s University, do log into your Children’s University Online platform before the 13 November to take screenshots or make PDFs of the information you do not want to lose. This way you will have PDF copies to highlight the following:

hours achieved
certificates achieved
subjects studied
destinations visited
activities completed
skills acquired.

The Children’s University Trust has kindly said that they will keep your data live until 13 November so you have time to make a decision as to whether you would like to continue or if you would like to leave but download your data.

To find out more about Children’s University Online, please click on Help in your child’s CUO account or email Liam Nolan.

Future contact details: For any additional Children’s University queries, please email the Children’s University Trust or visit Childrens University to find information on any of the following:

Learning partners >>

Continuing as a Learning Destination: We would love Learning Partners/Destinations in Kent and Medway to stay with Children’s University. If you are happy to remain on the database and issue Learning Credits, you do not need to do anything. Keep issuing Learning Credits as usual.

KCU will be sharing information regarding their closure on Social Media so if you are staying as a Learning Destination/Partner do let your followers know that you are staying so they are encouraged to continue visiting you. You can find your current online record here.

We would encourage you to update your email records, contact Children's University should you wish to make any changes to your online record or be removed as a Learning Destination.

If you would like to be removed from the website now, please email:

Kent Children's University before the 20 September
Children's University after the 20 September.

If you decide to leave Children’s University, we ask that you remove:

KCU and Children’s University Trust logos and content from websites and social media
remove the Learning Destination sticker and posters from your venue.

Future contact details: For any additional Children’s University queries, please email the national Children’s University Trust or visit Children's University to find information on any of the following:

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