Celebrate!

The festive season is upon us and the year is drawing to a close, and there is only one thing to do. Celebrate!!!

Our most recent awards ceremony took place in November and a staggering 125 children from 20 primary schools across the city received an award for taking part in at least 100 hours of out of school activities in their own time. It was a brilliant event, and an inspirational speech was given by our fantastic Chancellor Eliot Kennedy - who then gave us a special mention on BBC Breakfast the next day! There were also speeches by the Lord Mayor, Councillor John Campbell, and 2 pupils from Stradbroke Primary School spoke about what CU means to them. It was also the unveiling of our CU Souvenirs stall including special awards certificate folders, water bottles, bags, pencils and lanyards for awards badges! All items were really popular - so make sure you grab your Sheffield CU water bottle whilst you can!

We also recently presented our portfolio at a Quality in Study Support recognition panel along with Wakefield CU, Peterborough CU, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CU, York CU and Middlesborough CU. We were very proud to receive the news that we have been awarded the 'Established' Level, which evidences that we offer a quality service that has a measurable impact on the children and young people who take part! We received fantastic feedback from our colleagues, who were very supportive and gave lovely comments about the service we provide. 


Other highlights this year include:

• Nearly 18,000 children and young people are registered with CU, and have collectively gained 614, 417 credits in total so far. The highest achiever currently had over 850 hours!

• During 2012, Sheffield CU have given out over 2000 Bronze Awards, 1180 Silver Awards and 500 Gold Awards. 

• There are currently 50 schools subscribed to Sheffield Children’s University. New additions include: Whiteways Primary School, Birley Community Primary School, Westfield School, and Sheffield Park Academy. Dore Primary School and Manor Lodge Primary School have also rejoined CU.

• Preliminary data has arrived for the last academic year, which looks at CU participation and attainment in both KS2 SATs and GCSEs. This data looks very positive and seems to follow the previous trend showing a clear link between participation in CU activities and attainment. Also, utilising FFT estimates, figures indicate that children and young people who take part in CU activities do better than they were previously estimated. Further analysis of the data will take place in the coming months and the report will be ready in the new year. 

• 30 schools have been received special Rocket Science resource boxes which enables them to deliver a series of Rocket based activities in an out of school club. The end result is the design and creation of a water powered rocket which will be launched at a special event in April at Don Valley Stadium!

• Using the Passport to Learning, children and young people have clocked up over 100,000 hours this year, by visiting over 80 Learning Destinations across the city such as museums, libraries, Heeley City Farm, brownies/scouts and local dance, drama, music and martial arts groups.  

• Eliot Kennedy has been appointed our Sheffield CU chancellor and has been very well received by school staff, parents/carers, and children and young people at our recent awards ceremonies, where he gave very inspirational speeches. Eliot is a highly successful music producer and songwriter, based in Sheffield and works with musicians and bands such as Take That, Spice Girls, and The Wanted to name a few! 

• As part of the Off the Shelf festival of words, Sheffield CU enabled over 200 children, young people and their families to create stories using the toss of a dice with Imagination Gaming and solve the mystery at the crime science with Sherlock Bone during the October half term holidays. 

• Working in partnership with the Looked After Children team, Children's Residential Service and Fostering team, all looked after children in the city have received a free Passport to Learning to enable them to become involved in out of school activities and be rewarded for their participation.

And we are sure there will be lots more to celebrate in 2013! Watch this space for news about our 'February Freebie' and 'Sheffield CU Live' soon!

We want to take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to all our colleagues, schools, Learning Destinations, partners, parents/carers for supporting our work and ensuring the children and young people of our wonderful city are celebrated and rewarded for their achievements. We hope you enjoy the festive season, and look forward to seeing you in the new year. 

Merry Christmas!

Young achievers celebrate splendid success!

Our Secondary Ceremony took place in Firth Hall recently, with almost 200 pupils from six secondary schools across the city attended a special awards ceremony at the University of Sheffield  to mark their achievements outside the classroom.

The glittering celebration, hosted by the University's Outreach Team, honoured young people who have dedicated more than 100 hours to out of school learning activities in and around school and also at community and citywide Learning Destinations using their Passport to Learning. 

Pro-Vice Chancellor International, Professor Rebecca Hughes

Assistant Director - Families and Communities, Dee Desgranges 

Headteacher of Firth Park Community Arts College - Chris Keen

Newly appointed  Sheffield CU Chancellor, music producer and songwriter Eliot Kennedy

A fantastic display by Sheffield Dragons Elite Squad

Student Union Activities Officer Tom Dixon talks about the activities on offer in Sheffield

A fabulous performance from Lauren Stevens, Yewlands Technology College

Students from Firth Park perform to 'I believe' from the film 'Honey'

Huge thanks to Caroline Knight, Stephen Carding and the Outreach team for facilitating the ceremony and providing such a fantastic venue to celebrate the children and young people of our city!

You can find more photos here: Sheffield CU Facebook

CU goes Off the Shelf!

Off the Shelf is a dynamic, distinctive and diverse festival of words which features 200 events including readings, debates, workshops, poetry, storytelling, readers’ events, walks, talks, community events, a programme for children and young people and more.

As part of the Off the Shelf festival, Sheffield CU has two of its fantastic Learning Destinations in the Winter Garden doing fantastic FREE activities for children and young people to enjoy. Imagination Gaming are there from today (Monday 29th October) until Wednesday, 10am - 3pm doing story writing with a difference, where the toss of a dice helps create your plot and characters! Sherlock Bone will be there on Thursday and Friday, 10am - 3pm and need help solving the mystery at the crime scene!

Both activities are free, and there's no need to book, just drop in! Please take your Children's University Passport to Learning (available to buy for £2 from the library if you don't have one!) to collect CU credits for taking part in the activities! 

For more information about the festival, visit their website! 

To find out about other exciting activities happening in the holidays where children and young people can collect CU credits, visit www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu and download our October Passport to Learning newsletter from the bottom of the page!

Planning your October holiday fun?

Do you have your Passport to Learning yet? 

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 Children’s University Awards. To collect these credits, they need a Passport to Learning. These cost £2 and are available to purchase at Sheffield libraries and some Learning Destinations.

All children and young people have to do is to ask their parents to sign the consent form inside the CU Passport to give permission for the Learning Destination to pass essential information to Sheffield Children’s University (Sheffield City Council). 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. Participation will be recorded on a register and the hours will contribute to the Awards Certificates sent to them through school. To get your credits, you MUST make sure your name is put on a register at the activity AS WELL AS the stamps in your Passport!!

The latest addition of our Passport to Learning activity newsletter for the October half term holidays can be downloaded here: www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu

On it you will find all the activities happening during the half term holidays where children and young people can collect credits, and learn new and exciting things!

Happy new (school) year!

Already we are half way through September and the new school year is in full swing, with lots of children and young people learning new and exciting things both in and out of the classroom.

We start the year with over 16,000 children and young people who have gained credits for taking part in Sheffield Children's University activities. Collectively, they have now clocked up over 600,000 hours! Amazing! We have already received lots of information from our schools and Learning Destinations about the exciting activities happening across the city this Autumn too, so we are sure this number will grow rapidly and we'll reach 750,000 hours before we know it!

Its been a busy summer here at Sheffield CU HQ, as we have prepared for the new school year and our next awards ceremony which will take place in October at the University of Sheffield. Some exciting new opportunities have been developed, and we hope to have more information about our Rocket Science activities for schools, and the return of the February Freebie next year for Learning Destinations and Passport to Learning holders soon.

In the meantime, keep checking the website for all the latest information, and if you are a tweeter, please follow us @SheffieldCU. You can also find answers to some of our most frequently asked questions by clicking the FAQs tab near the top of the page.

Finally, Sheffield CU does make a difference! Our schools think so too. See below for some fantastic comments from primary and secondary schools across the city.

'Being part of CU really raises the self esteem of our students. It enables them to develop their skills & provides exciting opportunities'
Extended Services Co-ordinator, Sheffield Secondary School

'CU is an invaluable service, providing first class recognition to all the children who take part in activities beyond the school day'
Learning Mentor, Sheffield Primary School

'With the help of CU we have evidenced that children who take part grow in confidence, are motivated to learn and make more progress'
Deputy Head, Sheffield Primary School

Heritage Detectives!

There was a mystery to be solved at Heeley City Farm this summer as twelve young Heritage investigators came together for an exciting week of hands on history, mystery and story!

Helped by the project organisers, Andy Messer a local storyteller, Lauren Heart a teacher, actor and Heeley Explore volunteer, and Sally Rodgers the Heeley City Farm Community Heritage Officer, the group set about solving the mystery which gradually unfolded over 5 days.

On the first day the group met a mysterious man, who thought his name was ‘Mickey’, and that the date was December 15^th 1940 (the date of the Sheffield Blitz and the night Heeley was bombed!) Mickey said he lived on the Farm site (which was Victorian terraced houses until the 1970’s). The group had to help him get his memory back using clues each day.

'Mickey' - the mystery man!

The group found all sorts of different clues in different places during the week. On the first day they visited the Heeley History Group to find out more about Heeley during the 1940’s and to speak to people who had lived through the Sheffield Blitz. 

Playing a 1940's game with the Heeley History Group

A visit to Weston Park Museum helped the group find out about Sheffield in the past.  Clara Morgan (Curator of Social History) kindly showed the group a real incendiary bomb that had dropped on Sheffield. 

Museum Sheffield staff demonstrate the bomb!

They also visited The Hawley Collection at Kelham Island Museum where Mr Ken Hawley himself answered lots of questions about the mystery man and what his job might have been. 

Looking at the Hawley Collection at Kelham Island

One Day 4 the group had a extra special behind the scenes tour of the Sheffield Archives where they got to move the massive shelves by turning big wheels and they were shown Sheffield Medieval Market charter – one of the oldest documents Sheffield has!.Cheryl Bailey the Senior Archivist had laid out lots of documents in the reading room for the group to look at and finally answer all the questions about who this mystery man was and how he had ended up in 2012.

Getting to the bottom of the mystery at Sheffield Archives

The final day saw Mickey (who turned out really to be Willie) re-united with his grand daughter and safely send back through time to 1940.

Solved!

A huge thank you to Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield Archives and The Heeley History group for all working together to create this adventure and to Sheffield Museums Trust and The Council for British Archaeology who funded the project. It was a fantastic week enjoyed equally by all the staff and the young people, who managed to achieve a very impressive total of 205 hours between them for their Children’s University Passports.

Aspiration, Enjoyment & Achievement: the Children’s University Impact

Back in June, we worked in partnership with our neighbouring Children's University colleagues to host a fantastic event at Magna Science and Adventure Centre for headteachers, school staff and learning providers to come along and find out more about Children's University both locally and nationally.

There were inspiring speeches from Chief Executive of the CU Trust Ger Graus, children's author Hilary Robinson, and Cile Sibanda from Rotherham CU, who provided an insight into what CU means to children and young people. There was also an engaging and explosive science workshop provided by Magna, and an opportunity for attendees to find out more about their local Children's University and how they can get involved.

It was a fantastic event, and really helped raise the profile of all our work and the impact it can have on children and young people across our region.

CU Trust Chief Executive, Ger Graus talks about CU nationally

Cile Sibanda from Rotherham CU gives a young person's perspective

Staff from Magna deliver an explosive science workshop!

Author and broadcaster Hilary Robinson reads her  latest  book, 'The Copper Tree'

Helen Oades from Sheffield CU talks about the benefits of CU locally

Summer Update!

Phew! Its been a very busy few months at Sheffield CU HQ.


We've had two fantastic awards ceremonies, met lots of new schools, have been out validating new and exciting Learning Destinations, published our 2011 Participation and Performance Analysis, co-hosted a huge South Yorkshire CU event at Magna Science and Adventure Centre, and had lots of meeting with potential new partners and colleagues within the Council to spread the message of Sheffield CU even further! 


There are now over 15,700 children and young people across the city who are participating in Sheffield Children's University. Collectively they have clocked up a staggering 531, 710 hours. Amazing!

Students receive their awards at Firth Park Community Arts College

It is always the best part of the job celebrating and rewarding children and young people with their certificates and badges for giving up their own time to learn, so we felt very lucky to have not one but two award ceremonies last week! The first took place at Firth Park Community Arts College and children and young people were invited from the family of schools to receive Bronze (30 hours) and Silver (65 hours) Awards. There were fantastic performances from HBH Academy who sang 'Tonight's the Night' from their school production 'Cinderella Rockerfella' and from the Firth Park Jazz Ensemble.


We also held our Primary Gold Awards Ceremony at the Town Hall, and invited over 70 children to receive their Gold (100 hours) Awards from the Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Vickie Priestley. 5 children nominated by their schools to receive a National Honorary Award for commitment to CU learning, or a National Outstanding Achievement Award were also invited to attend. The event was a fantastic success and we received some lovely feedback from parents/carers about how important  Sheffield CU and the ceremonies are. You can find the photos from the ceremony on our new Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/SheffieldCU/

Children from Dobcroft Junior School receive their CU Awards from the  Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Vickie Priestley and Cllr Jenny Armstrong

The event held at Magna Science and Adventure Centre was a fantastic opportunity for us to work alongside other local CU's to host an event for headteachers, school staff and Governors to come along and find out more about Children's University and it's impact. Guest speakers included Ger Graus, Chief Executive of the National Children's University Trust, Hilary Robinson, child author and broadcaster and one of the student ambassadors from Rotherham CU. There was also a huge Learning Destination marketplace including Museum Sheffield, Rother Valley Country Park along with their laser class dinghy and The University of Sheffield. Feedback was positive, and we hope to continue to work with our neighbouring CUs on further developments.


We published our 2011 Performance and Participation Analysis shows that children and young people who participate in out of school CU activities achieve better at both KS2 and KS4 and exceed their estimated results, whereas Non CU pupils do not meet their estimates You can find the full report on the bottom of the page here: www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu

Just a few more updates: our latest CU summer Passport to Learning newsletter has been sent into schools, and can be found online here: www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu . It includes information on activities taking place throughout the school holidays where children and young people can collect credits. We welcome lots of new Learning Destinations (LD) across the city including: Art in the Park, Zest, Yong-Gi Thai Kwon Do, 82nd Chapeltown Scouts, 211th St Wilfrid's Brownies, Sparkles Events, Pyjama Drama and Kay Hudson Yoga to name but a few! When collecting credits from Learning Destinations, it is essential that the LD keeps a register that is sent to us to ensure children and young people receive the credits they have earnt. If a LD is not keeping a register, we will not receive any record of the number of hours any child or young person has taken part in and won't be able to award credits. Please bear this is mind when visiting activities across the summer!


Also we are planning for a special event in October as part of Off the Shelf Festival. We will be taking over the middle section of the Winter Garden during the half term holidays, providing exciting activities related to literacy. Visit the Off the Shelf website for more information about the festival: http://www.welcometosheffield.co.uk/off-the-shelf


We have lots of new schools who have joined the Sheffield CU family, and I want to take an opportunity to welcome to Greenhill Primary, Dobcroft Infants, Prince Edward Primary, St Catherine's Catholic Primary and Malin Bridge Primary as new schools as well as welcoming Dore Primary and Manor Lodge Primary back into the fold! We have meetings with more potential schools in the coming weeks and look forward to welcoming them onboard soon!


Finally, we had a VERY exciting meeting with the new Chancellor of Sheffield Children's University and can't wait until we can announce more information. Watch this space!

Aspiration, Enjoyment & Achievement: the Children’s University Impact

Did you know that in Sheffield in 2011 the number of Children’s University (CU) pupils within CU Schools achieving Level 4+ in English and Maths is significantly greater than the Non CU pupils, and also exceeds the Local Authority average? 


Also, Y6 CU pupils meet or are within a few percentage points of their Fischer Family Trust (FFT) SE Estimates for both English and Maths. This is significantly greater than their Non CU peers who fell approximately 10% below their FFT SE Estimates.


At KS4 in 2011, the percentage of Y11 CU students achieving 5A*-C including English and Maths at GCSE (44%) is significantly higher than the Non CU students (24%).


Also, the percentage of Y11 CU students achieving 5A*-C including English and Maths was 7 percentage points higher than the Fischer Family Trust (FFT) SE Estimate increasing to 12 percentage points for 5A*-C.

Our recently published 2011 Performance and Participation Analysis (which can be found here) shows that children and young people who participate in out of school CU activities achieve better at both KS2 and KS4 and exceed their estimated results, whereas Non CU pupils do not meet their estimates. 

Choosing to learn something in your own time is important, and is something to be celebrated. For more information on how to get involved with Sheffield CU visit www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu

Celebrate!

There was lots to celebrate at our recent CU Secondary Awards Ceremony at Sheffield Hallam University as students from 5 of our secondary schools were invited to attend, and receive their Gold Awards. The highest student receiving an award for choosing to take part in over 385 hours of out of school learning.

There were fantastic performances from Joseph Hadfield of Yewlands Technology College, who brought his very own comedy roadshow to the Pennine Lecture Theatre along with Thomas Warburton and Lauren Jackson, a spectacular singer also from Yewlands who sang 'The Climb' and 'Forget You'. 

Huge thanks to Alex and the team at Sheffield Hallam University for their support and providing such an inspiring venue.

Chess with a Grandmaster

Grandmaster Chris Ward, 1996 British Chess Champion, (kneeling left), sharing hints and tips at Firth Park Community Arts College on Thursday 12th April 2012 when children, parents, school staff and chess players from North Sheffield came together for an inspiring coaching session intended to encourage chess playing adults to support young players. 

Chris has previously coached the England under 11s Team and regularly teaches chess to children as young as 6 years old.  He skilfully held the attention of  21 children from 7 different schools aged 6 - 13 years old for an hour whilst talking through the elements of the game.  After listening spellbound, the children practised their new annotation skills whilst playing a simultaneous game with Chris as he worked his way round the room giving each child individual attention.

In the afternoon the children had a session with Imagination Gaming exploring unusual chess related games whilst the adults talked with Chris about the best way to support our young players.  It was agreed that children really benefit from the opportunity to play friendly matches with children from other schools and that pairing with a neighbouring school is a good first step.  There is a junior chess club, Burngreave Checkmate, running at Burngreave Library on Monday 5 - 6pm run by Jeremy Hamm and children aged 8 - 13 can also play at Upper Wincobank Chapel Junior Youth Club, meeting on Tuesdays 4.30 - 6.00pm. Chris Benjamin from Ecclesfield Secondary School is planning an inter-schools chess tournament in July.  Watch this space! 

Many thanks to Firth Park Community Arts College for hosting the event and for all CU schools in North Sheffield for passing the information on. If you or your school would be interested in arranging a friendly game please let the CU office know.

A message from Penny

On my last day with Sheffield City Council, I would like to say thank you for my cake, the flowers, my certificate and goodbye gifts, and most of all for eight amazing years working with wonderful people to grow the Children's University. It is a dream that has come true thanks to those who have joined forces with us to celebrate out of school hours learning and to try and ensure that allchildren experience the pleasure and satisfaction of investing their own time in developing skills that will lead to a lifelong passion for learning. There are now over 15,000 children in Sheffield who are involved in the Children's University, who have received certificates and badges and who are building their own impressive portfolios of achievement.  There is a brilliant team in Sheffield City Council spreading the message that learning is wonderful,  learning is fun. As well as Katie, Helen, Toby and Mark from the Extended Learning Team there are hundreds of other colleagues in the City Council, in schools, voluntary and independent organisations, linking into Children's University and working hard to create the best possible opportunities for children and young people. I am sure that in another thirty years or so we will be celebrating 50 years of a national Children's University that it is as widely known and valued as is the Open University.  CU is a university without walls, the first step to lifelong learning. And in Sheffield it shines.  Thank you and good luck.  Penny

Celebrate!

A fantastic panoramic view from our very recent awards ceremony... Some excited and proud parents, carers and children in the audience, anxiously awaiting news of which award they are due to receive!

Thanks to our fab photographer Mark for all his hard work!

Top tips!

Participation in out of school activities helps children success at school.


It's easy to get involved. Here are our 5 top tips on how to engage your child with CU.


1. Visit our website to find out if your child’s school is registered. Encourage your child to take up opportunities offered by the school and to attend regularly.


2. To collect extra credits, buy a Passport to Learning at a library for £2 and sign the front page so your child can collect credits at Learning Destinations


3. Encourage your child to join in other activities in your area


4. Recommend good organisations to us if they are not already CU Learning Destinations


5. Come along to the CU ceremonies when invited and celebrate your child’s success! 

Roll out the red carpet...

Awards season is now upon us in Sheffield! Our primary ceremony takes place on Wednesday 14 March at Sheffield Town Hall, and there are over 100 children invited along with their parents/carers to receive their Gold Awards. That's over 100 hours of giving up their own time to learn something new, which is something to be very proud of.


Collectively these children have managed to clock up a staggering 15,390 hours taking part in a wide range of activities, both at school and in our growing number of Learning Destinations across the city. From singing songs in the woodland, to learning how to juggle in the circus, to finding out how to take care of animals at Heeley City Farm, to learning how to speak arabic on a Saturday morning, the children invited to attend will be celebrated for their huge commitment to learning with National Award certificates and special Sheffield CU badges.


Our secondary students will also be celebrated in April when we hold our prestigious secondary awards ceremony in the fantastic Pennine Lecture Theatre at Sheffield Hallam University. 


This spells a very busy time at Sheffield CU HQ as we organise the ceremonies, send out the invitations and prepare all the awards for the children and young people. However busy it seems though, it is undoubtedly the best part of the job. We can't wait to see you at the ceremony!

Quick, hurry!

There are only 5 days left to claim your FREE CU Passport to Learning in Sheffield!


Make sure you visit our website www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu to find out where you can take part in some exciting activities, learning something new AND claim your free Passport before time runs away!

Sheffield Rangers to the Rescue!

Sheffield Ranger Service work hard helping us all appreciate the green spaces in our lovely city of Sheffield.

Den Building with the Rangers in Meersbrook Park

They provide a huge variety of activities to that help capture the imagination of children and young people across the city. 

With them, you can learn about fungi or trees, collect seeds or build bird feeders. If these aren’t for you, you can join in with one of the conservation tasks or simply enjoy one of the many holiday activities they provide. There are also opportunities to volunteer with the Rangers, to find out more about your local environment and how you can help maintain your green space. 

Singing in the woodland recording studio on Wincobank Hill

For more information on their fantastic programme of activities where you can claim your free Passport in February, visit: www.sheffield.gov.uk/rangers

Farm Life!

Have you collected your free Passport to Learning yet? During the month of February, Sheffield children and young people can collect a FREE Passport to Learning by taking part in a learning activity at any of our Learning Destinations. You can find a list of our Learning Destinations here: www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu.

What better place to collect your free Passport and learn something new than Heeley City Farm - one of fantastic Learning Destinations right in the heart of our city.

From animal care to wildlife awareness and even archaeology and excavations, there are always lots of fantastic activities to take part in!

Visit their website: www.heeleyfarm.org.uk for more information.