Jubilee University is an opportunity for children to experience and learn things that we believe are integral to being ‘Equipped for Life’ but are not normally covered in the National Curriculum.  Our Jubilee University seeks to further develop self-help skills, building community links and respect for others as well as for ourselves. Each University activity is focused on developing every child’s integrity, respect, manners, honesty, perseverance, compassion, co-operation, independence and doing things with excellence.

Our Jubilee University programme is organised over 4 separate weeks of the year, usually during Terms 1, 2, 3 and 6. Some of the activities that we have covered recently are healthy minds, first aid, budgeting and finances, facing your fears and many more.

Junior Duke Awards

At Jubilee Primary School, we are always considering new ways to inspire our children to challenge and extend themselves and others, whilst encouraging them to use a range of learning skills to help strengthen their character.  From September 2024, we have embarked on getting all our children to participate in the Junior Duke Award, offering the Micro, Mini and Junior stages.

The Junior Duke Award has been designed to be inclusive with every pupil, irrespective of their background, having the chance to benefit from the competence and the self-confidence that the challenges develop. The programme provides pupils with many practical challenges that is a steer away from the classroom academia, but at the same time offering the high academic achievers the prospect of growing their knowledge and skill base even further.

The Micro, Mini and Junior Duke give children the opportunity to participate in a variety of new experiences. They teach children that it is good to take part and challenge themselves to learn new and varied skills from an early age. Children will learn important life lessons that you may not always succeed the first time and it is fine to take many tries before you accomplish something. This helps them to develop the fortitude they will need throughout their lives. This is a fantastic opportunity to develop independence, confidence, adaptability and self-motivation as they complete challenges to gain the award.

Each of these levels has a selection of challenges and they include skills such as First Aid, ICT, Eco Awareness, Drama, Music, Sport and other life skills such as cookery and puncture repair. The children will be given some of the necessary skills in school, but most of the challenges will require a good amount of time and effort out of school with friends and family. They simply need the time and space to explore, learn from their mistakes and to learn to be safe.

The Duke Award schemes provide the children with the opportunity to gain a recognised qualification from successfully completing each step of the award. Upon completing a level, a certificate and a badge are awarded during our celebration assembly. Children should aim to finish their challenges by the end of the school year.