There are hundreds of organisations across Sheffield providing learning activities that children and young people choose to take part in in their own free time. From Brownies, to swimming lessons and dance classes, to musuems and libraries, there are many opportunities in our city for children and young people to be inspired, and try something new.
We think its really important for children and young people to be rewarded for giving up their time to take part in these activities. To be able to do this, we need organisations to register as Learning Destinations so we can not only advertise their activities locally and nationally but also collect information about participation to be able to award children and young people with the credits they have earned. If you run an organisation, or know of any organisations which might be interested in helping us, please see below for answers to all the important questions on how to get involved!
So what is Children's University?
The Children’s University (CU) is an exciting national initiative which encourages children to take part in a wide range of worthwhile out-of-school-hours learning.
Research by the University of Cambridge indicates that keeping a record and celebrating participation in these activities through the Children’s University has a big impact on success at school. 9,000 children in Sheffield are already earning points through clubs and extra-curricular activities held on school premises. In Sheffield we know that there are many more equally valuable opportunities beyond the school gate, such as activities run by your club/organisation.
How does it work?
Children’s participation in all aspects of voluntary learning (such as taking part in your activities) is credited through an awards system. Currently, children can only gain their credits (one per each hour they do) through registers kept by their school. However, a national Passport to Learning is now being introduced (www.sheffield.gov.uk/cupassporttolearning) as there are lots of fun and exciting activities taking place outside of normal school hours in different places across Sheffield where children and young people can collect learning credits. These credits will be added to the ones children collect in school to earn CU Awards. We are inviting organisations such as yours that meet CU criteria to work with us to bring children the recognition they deserve for their commitment to learning in their spare time.
What will we have to do?
It's really simple - and FREE to join! If you decide that you want to join the scheme to be able to reward the children that attend your organisation, all you have to do is complete and return a registration form found at www.sheffield.gov.uk/culd. We will come out and pay you a quick visit to check that your clubs meet our criteria, then you'll become a validated 'Learning Destination' and we'll provide you with all you need - registers, posters, stickers, leaflets, etc. in a welcome pack.
From then on, all you'd need to do is stamp their CU Passport and record the name, date of birth and school of the children who attend in a register, and then send that into us at least once per school term (3 times per year). We'll do all the rest and make sure those hours are turned into credits and added to the child's running total from school activities!
What do the children and young people have to do?
All the children and young people have to do is to buy a passport (£2) ask their parents to sign the consent form inside their CU Passport to give permission for the Learning Destination to pass essential information to Sheffield Children’s University (ourselves). They can then take the Passport to any of the registered CU Learning Destinations across the city such as museums, libraries and local clubs and take part in their learning activities.
So what's in it for us?
Lots! Once you have become a Learning Destination, your details will be uploaded onto the Sheffield CU website (part of Sheffield City Council) for all the children and young people of the city and beyond to see, when they are looking for activities to do and they'll also be uploaded onto the national CU website, so lots of free publicity! Already, lots of children and parents are contacting us, saying they have a passport, where can they go to use it?
The Passport is a new development for Sheffield Children’s University. Organisations are joining all the time. You can choose to sell the passports at your club/organisation if you want to. We sell them to you at £1.80 each and you can sell them on for £2 each, retaining a 2% profit for your funds. They are also available for the children to buy from all libraries for £2.
We are also planning a large-scale event later this year, where we will invite all Learning Destinations to showcase their work and/or provide an information display, to which children, young people, parents, schools, other services and the press will be invited. Because of the information we collect, we are able to provide you with data broken down by age, ethnicity, postcode, etc. which may help you with writing applications for funding, etc. This is an extra service so if you are interested, please contact us.
How do we get involved?
Simple! Just download the registration form from www.sheffield.gov.uk/culd and send it back. We'll contact you, take care of the rest, and get you up and running as a Learning Destination in no time. For more information, please visit www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu
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