Video by Influence Media
‘All it takes is one day.’
One day can alter the course of your life. At least that’s how it was for one girl from Hull when she visited the houses of parliament.
Walking around the iconic halls on a trip organised by Hull and East Yorkshire Children’s University, Saffron had a light bulb moment. Prior to that she’d barely left the estate she was born on and had never been on a train.
From that moment on she decided politics was for her. She ended up studying the subject at the University of Hull, graduated, and has commenced further studies in law. According to HEY CU CEO, Rose James, she’s said that one day changed everything.
That inspiring story communicates the vision behind the Children’s University. Taking children from disadvantaged backgrounds and providing them with opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t get, to inspire and educate.
They’re a brilliant local charity who have made regular trips to C4DI with the children they support. We spoke to CEO Rose to find out more.
Charity CEO Rose James
Lighting up a new path
We speak to Rose at their offices on Cottingham Road in Hull. The building sits in front of the University of Hull’s stunning business school and although they are an entirely separate entity, the setting makes for an appropriate reminder of the work they do.
“The aim of the charity,” Rose says. “Is to give children who are living in the most disadvantaged areas of Hull and East Riding opportunities that they otherwise would miss out on because of where they live.” Many of the children they meet have a similar story to Saffron and don’t have access to the opportunities that many children take for granted.
“Until they reach their teens, many won't leave their local area. And some of them don't know someone who works. They have no experience of the world of work. So we think, ‘How can those children aspire to be anything if they don't know what's out there?’ They might know jobs like doctor, teacher, police officer, or somebody who works in a supermarket. But if they don't want to do those jobs, they might think, work isn't for me.”
“We want to light up all the different paths that those children can take when they leave school. It could be founding their own business. It could be going into an apprenticeship or going to university. We want them to see that those things are available to them."
It's admirable and vital work and it’s helping more and more people each year. When Rose started working at the charity in 2013, they were working with 1800 children year. Now it’s 11,000 children a year.
They partner with schools to provide opportunities and trips. “For us to work with a school, 50% of the children need to be from disadvantaged backgrounds. We give those schools a menu of options, and they choose what they’d like to do.”
“They could come to London with us for the day, they could go to Edinburgh, they could go to a local business. We take the children out of school during school time and we give them that experience, because the schools can't do that themselves.”
Giving children great experiences since 1996
It was in a school setting that it all started. Rose explains that the charity was set up in 1996 by Dr John Buttrick whilst he was a teacher. He’d been running extracurricular activities for the children and “realised that it really had an impact on those children, on their confidence, and on their thoughts for their future.” He saw there was something in it.
The tragic death of his son, Tim, changed everything. “He decided to leave teaching altogether and set up Hull Children's University, to give children experiences they otherwise wouldn't have, in memory of his son.”
This vision has been carried through to today. The Hull and East Yorkshire branch of the charity has grown from strength to strength employing more members of staff including one of Rose’s colleagues Jess who took part in one of the very first programs. She’s said, “how much that meant to her as a child”.
There is arguably a greater need for their help than ever. Rose is excited about “reaching more children and providing them with even more exciting experiences.” Their trips to London can involve sleepovers in the Natural History Museum or on HMS Belfast and tours of the capital. “We top it off with a visit to the West End, to see a show, which for those children, many of whom have never been to a panto, is just amazing.”
But there’s possibility for much more and some of the most rewarding trips are to local businesses, such as Rix or Reckitts.
“We also bring children into businesses, who open their doors and the children spend a day there. They do a rotation of activities throughout the day, so they could go with the finance department, HR department, marketing department, and meet people doing those jobs, try hands on things and learn about that sector.”
“I'd like to get more businesses on board, opening their doors to our children, and hopefully inspiring their future workforce.”
Another way they can provide inspirational experiences is through their partnership with C4DI.
Introducing children to tech
“We've been members at C4DI for a few years now,” says Rose. HEY CU have used the space for hot desking and training, but it also presents a great opportunity for their work with children. “We bring the children in for a C4DI experience where they spend time with different businesses there.”
Companies they’ve worked with in C4DI include Sauce, T=Ø, Octovision and Influence Media. “They've delivered sessions to the children, showing them about their areas of work, getting the children doing hands on activities, and learning about different jobs.”
Apart from “learning that geeks are cool” the day introduces children to careers that probably wouldn’t have been presented to them otherwise. It helps of course, that the “C4DI team are fantastic and every time I come they're so helpful with the children.” We didn’t pay Rose to say that, honest!
It has presented great networking opportunities too. “Being members at C4DI has meant we can access fantastic networking events like the Techy Breaky’s, so we can meet people from different businesses. As a result, we've been lucky enough to have some come on as official partners like Sauce” You can read more about them in our last Real Stories interview, here.
What do children want to do today?
We wanted to know what children thought of the program so Rose filled us in on some of the responses.
“At the end of all our experiences, we ask the children for some feedback to measure if anything changed during that experience. Is there increased confidence? Have they been exposed to jobs they didn't know existed before? Have they had a new dream for the future? And we often get some exciting feedback.”
Of course, the dream jobs of today are different to what they would have been even 10 years ago, with the media that children consume changing all the time. It’s no surprise that “some of them would like to be content creators - because a lot of them have idols, who are YouTubers and things like that.”
And whilst for some that will be a genuine goal, being exposed to businesses like the ones in C4DI can perhaps provide them with a realistic path of how they might get there, or in fact pursue a slightly different but related path.
“After the C4DI experience we have a lot of children saying they want to go into software development and coding.” And whatever the dream, “exposing them to people who are working in that sector, means they listen to stories of how those people have gone into those jobs. Then they see a clear path of how to get there rather than it just being a pipe dream.”
Careers beginning in Hull
Rose believes Hull “punches above it’s weight” when it comes to jobs in tech and has exciting prospects for young people here. Of course, HEY CU encourages them to explore beyond their immediate surroundings and hopefully gives them hope for the future but it’s comforting to know that there are opportunities at home too.
“I'm happy that we can collaborate with C4DI and the other businesses to show the children that these opportunities are there. They don't need to go to another city to be successful in that sector. And actually, they can be in companies who are leading the way.”
It’s clear that this charity is doing excellent work in inspiring and equipping the next generation. We certainly hope that one of the children who’s turned up here on a school day and been wowed by what they see, goes on to take their first steps in a career at one of the companies in our network. Watch this space.