This area is for registered CU managers and school coordinators only.
Register now Forgot your password?
  • Search
Header

Awards and certificates

Rewarding your achievements, celebrating your success!

Certificates and Celebrations

One of our favourite things at Children’s University Scotland is celebrating your incredible achievements. We do this with certificates and awards that you receive at fantastic celebration events!

A Children's University Scotland celebration event is a great opportunity to look back on the amazing things you have achieved to earn your CU award and to look forward to what could come next in your learning journey.

We invite family, friends, teachers and other important people in your local community to join us in celebrating your enthusiasm for learning, your drive to try something new, your ability to keep doing the things you enjoy, and moving closer to your hopes and aspirations for your future.

Slide 1

I really enjoyed Children’s University because I got to hang out with and make new friends. The best part of being involved was the graduation at Strathclyde. My mum was able to come along and watch me succeed by being presented with my certificate and she was so proud of me!

Erin

Passport Holder, Glasgow Children's University

What awards are available?

There are lots of awards available with Children’s University Scotland, so you have plenty of opportunities to reflect on and celebrate your achievements. You can read about the awards on the first page inside your Passport.

 

The first award level is the Bronze Undergraduate Award, and you need 30 credits from learning activities to earn this.

After this, the Silver Undergraduate Award is earned by logging 65 credits, and the Gold Undergraduate Award is yours for 100 credits.

The award levels go all the way up to 1,000 credits. That's a lot of learning! It's good to set yourself goals and aim high, but we don't expect you to reach 1,000 credits straight away.

With each new award level that you unlock on Aspire, we hope you will be inspired to try new things, explore new ways to learn and build your skills in new and exciting ways. Your learning journey is unique, and you can shape it any way you like!

Reaching an award level

If you’ve got enough credits on Aspire, you’ll receive an award certificate.

Welcome to a celebration event

You, your family, and your teachers are welcomed at a special celebration event..

Caps, gowns and smiles

You can wear a real gown and cap, which you can throw high in the air at the end!

An inspiring ceremony

Stirring speeches, inspiring stories, and entertainment, before you collect your award.

More information about certificates and celebrations

Read our questions and answers to find out more.

How many activities should be used to gain an award?

If you do something regularly — like going to a swimming club — and you get really good at it, then that’s brilliant. Keep it up!

But to achieve a Children’s University Scotland award, you need to do more than one activity. That’s because we want to encourage you to try out new and unfamiliar experiences — we think that’s the best way to learn. Trying things you’re not used to will help you achieve your ambitions as you grow up.

But your favourite activity (let’s say it’s the swimming club) can still count towards your award. It just can’t count for more than one third of your award credits.

So, if you’re aiming for an award that needs 30 credits, your activities could be:

  • 10 credits for swimming club — practice, competitions, coaching
  • 4 credits for Brownies — badge work is the main focus of learning
  • 10 credits for school clubs — like the chess club or cookery club
  • 6 credits for music — tuition, practice, performance

How will you know when I'm ready to receive my award?

Your teacher or the Children's University Scotland team will see how you’re getting on by looking at your Aspire account.

This is why it’s really important to keep your Aspire account up to date — we don't want to miss you off the list when it comes to celebration events!

How often do celebration events take place?

Your teacher will be able to tell you when the next event is likely to be.

Will I graduate for every award I receive?

Great question! The answer depends on your school. Most schools will offer in-school events for bronze and silver undergraduate awards and celebration events in other venues will be saved for gold undergraduate awards and above.

To find out more about this, it would be best to speak to your teacher.