News

Primary school pupils attend graduation

Published 5 July 2012

Over 30 year-six pupils attended a special graduation ceremony at the University of Brighton on Friday 29 June as part of a widening participation project aimed at primary school children.

The children, from Moulsecoomb Primary School, spent the whole day at the university and were presented with their graduation certificates by award-winning children's author and political illustrator Chris Riddell.

A University of Brighton alumnus, he worked with the university to create the character of Professor C Gull to make student life more appealing to children whose parents have never been to university.

Although the university's widening participation team have been working with schools across Sussex for some years, the aim of involving Chris and creating Professor C Gull's Guide to University was to give the project more local relevance.

Chris, a political cartoonist for The Observer newspaper, was approached to take part in the project by the university's alumni department since he has been an active member of its Alumni Advice Network.

During the graduation ceremony, he drew caricatures of the children on an interactive whiteboard as he spoke to them and treated them to a preview of some new characters for his forthcoming book on aliens. Eleven other primary schools involved in the project have taken part in similar visits and graduation ceremonies and another graduation takes place before the end of term.

Chris Riddell and Professor C Gull with Pippa Edgar, Pauline Moloi, Sophia Barker, Evan Edwards and Brandon Carrillo.

Chris Riddell said: "It was an honour and a privilege to work with the university on this project and especially satisfying to see Brighton kids being introduced to the excitement and opportunities of university life. I loved designing Professor C Gull and friends and was thrilled by the positive response they got."

Michelle Tarling, widening participation coordinator at the University of Brighton, said: "Professor C Gull and friends have been a great hit with the primary school children that we work with. The characters that Chris Riddell created for Professor C Gull's Guide to University, which we take into schools for the first stage of the project, have stimulated the children's imagination and encouraged them to explore facts about university. The highlight of the second stage of the project, when the children visit the university to explore it and work with some our student ambassadors, has been the graduation ceremonies. The children have relished having their photos taken with Professor C Gull."