Endless hours of hard work and commitment was rewarded in front of proud family and friends when the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership’s Children’s University (CU) Gold Graduation took place at the University of Birmingham.

The ceremony, held in the Great Hall in front of a packed audience, provided the opportunity to reward 234 pupils who had racked up between 100 hours and, in one case, an incredible 700 hours of CU activities both inside and outside the classroom.

Inspired by mascot Owl-Bert, pupils have successfully completed sport, art, drama, entertainment, environmental and countless other projects to earn stamps for their CU digital passports on the way to earning bronze (30 hours), silver (65 hours) and gold (100 hours) awards.

Richard Gill CBE, the CEO of the Sutton Coldfield-headquartered partnership, said: “Children’s University has given fantastic opportunities to our pupils. The activities involved really do support the mental health of our young people and the amount of hours they have racked up completing their projects is truly phenomenal.”

More than 100 external community clubs – including Boldmere Swimming Club, local Scouts groups and Veseyans Rugby Club – are signed up and supporting our young people in gaining CU hours.

Natasha Blunt, the partnership’s CU lead and head of Sixth Form and associate assistant head at The Coleshill School, launched the scheme and has been thrilled to see the impact it has had on children who achieve individually and collectively as ‘One Trust’.

She said: “The initiative has been a huge success and has really taken off across our communities. It has linked school enrichment and local clubs to support the learning of our children and brought with it a huge contribution in terms of developing pupils’ social skills."

Across the Partnership, a mightily impressive 8,000 pupils are registered to the project and have ‘logged’ a combined 74,294 hours across 937 enrichment activities in our schools.

Helen O’Donnell, CEO of Children’s University Trust, was delighted to speak in front of the children and said: “This graduation is a bright new beginning and opportunity to keep learning and growing.

“I would encourage all of you to think of what is next for you and what more you can do. Always think of what you can achieve next!”

The Coleshill School’s Head Girl Laura Fahy, Year 13, also took to the stage to speak of the inspiration she gained from Children’s University.

Laura added: “I graduated seven years ago and I’m now preparing to study radiography at university in September. Children’s University helped me so much in my journey in so many ways.

“It enabled me to take part in school productions, Duke of Edinburgh Award, STEM club, trips abroad and perform at the German Market, among lots of other things. Academics are important, but school is about so much more than that.”

As part of CU, competitions are held regularly and newsletters are sent to all our schools every half term to encourage pupils to gain more hours. Children will now eagerly await details of what the new school year has in store.

Four Silver Graduation ceremonies held at various Partnership schools have also provided the chance to honour pupils who have completed 65 hours of CU activities.

Pictured: The Gold Graduates are all smiles in front of family and friends inside the Great Hall at the University of Birmingham