Children's University Charles Darwin

Get involved

As a learner or learning destination!

Whether you're a student, teacher or organisation, there are plenty of ways for you to get involved with Children’s University Charles Darwin.

As a student

CUCD will let you participate in exciting learning activities outside your day-to-day schoolwork. That means

before school
at lunchtime
after school
in the school holidays.

The best part is that you get to choose what activities you do, where, when, and how you would like to do them. And the things you learn about will be connected to something that you could study at a university, the schools for grown-ups.

Our Learning Destinations (the fun places you go to do cool things!) all have a special Children's University Australia sticker in the window. You go in there and do the activity, take your Passport to Learning with you and get a stamp for the time you spent learning.

The more activities you do, the more hours and stamps you will get in your Passport to Learning, and the closer you will be to graduating!

Once you have completed enough activities, you will also have collected enough hours to graduate from Children's University Charles Darwin.

Every year, we host a special graduated ceremony where you will be presented with your certificate while all dressed up in a cap and gown, just like the older university students.

If you want your school to be involved with CU Charles Darwin, contact us, and we will send them some information.

As a school

One of the first steps in setting up CU Charles Darwin in your school is to appoint a CUA Coordinator to oversee the program.

This role can be filled by a teacher or a member of the support staff and can be carried out in a few hours a week after the initial setup stage. CUCD will provide training in all of these areas as part of the enrolment package.

The coordinator will oversee:

the running and validation of CU Charles Darwin clubs (Restricted Learning Destinations) in school
manage the issue and maintenance of passports
liaise with CU Charles Darwin around the validation and provision of activities by Public Learning Destinations.

CUCD will also assist with the initial setup and validation of Restricted Learning Destinations in the school. These can take the form of school clubs delivered before or after school, at lunchtime or recess and in the holidays.

Some schools will already have these in place, and it will simply be a matter of validating these by ensuring the learning fits the criteria laid out in the Planning for Learning document.

Clubs can be run by teachers, support staff, parents or older students and can run over a short or extended period. CU Charles Darwin can provide examples of successfully delivered clubs and advise on the setup and timing of clubs.

CUCD will provide training in all areas as part of the enrolment package.

If you are a school that wants to be involved with CU Charles Darwin, contact us, and we will send you more information.

As an organisation

Do you currently provide activities for 7-14-year-olds and would like to collaborate with larger networks and expand your community profile?

CU Charles Darwin creates an opportunity to engage students and promote your exciting opportunities.

Becoming a Learning Destination offers the opportunity to connect your passion to a young audience. Becoming a Learning Destination can be a powerful way to engage in the community and contribute to the success and achievement of young people.

The validation of activities across all Learning Destinations indicates the quality of the program or experience for students and families.

Validation is the first step in a club or organisation becoming part of CU Charles Darwin. Many existing community-based activities, such as sports or language clubs, will find it easy to meet the criteria for validation and an important part of CU Charles Darwin is to support and recognise these pre-existing activities.

All matters of Health and Safety, Public Liability, and maintaining a Child-safe Environment remain the responsibility of the Learning Destination. All Public Learning Destinations are expected to operate to their statutory requirements in these areas.