Evidencing the impact - the Sheffield CU 2013 Participation and Performance Analysis

Any school, or Learning Destination will tell you that being part of CU and being celebrated and rewarded for taking part in out of school activities makes a difference. 

Here in Sheffield, we do lots of work looking at the impact of participation in these activities, through lots of data analysis, but also through case studies and anecdotal evidence collected from schools, providers, parents and the children themselves. With over 26,000 children and young people in Sheffield having over 1,200,000 Children's University credits between them, we have lots of data to work with!  For the first time we are able to publish a complete report which outlines the real difference being part of CU in Sheffield can make.

We are extremely pleased and very proud to share with you the Sheffield Children's University 2013 Participation and Performance Analysis which evidences the impact of out of school learning accredited and celebrated by CU in Sheffield.

This is our most detailed report to date and includes in depth analysis of the impact of participation in CU activities on attainment and attendance, using a variety of measures including progress and Fischer Family Trust estimates. These estimates show both estimated levels and grades for specific subjects as well as the 'chance' or likelihood of achieving a range of results.  Impact of the most vulnerable children and young people in our city is also examined.

And the findings are fantastic! In 2013 at both primary and secondary, Sheffield children and young people involved in CU activities did better than their non CU counterparts and often exceeded their estimates. As they progressed through the CU Award levels, their performance improved, particularly once they had achieved the Gold Award for 100+ hours of participation. These findings are reinforced by previous local impact reports which have been produced in Sheffield on an annual basis since 2009.

This year Sheffield CU were also awarded Quality in Study Support (QiSS) Advanced status, the final level of a 3 step national quality assurance framework that schools and learning organisations can utilise to demonstrate that they deliver quality provision that makes a real difference to children and young people. 

You can find the report by clicking the link above, or the link on the right hand side of this page.

Sheffield Passports to Learning go GLOBAL!

Wow! What a wonderful summer of Passport to Learning activities we've had! Sheffield children and young people have taken their Passports far and wide, to Sea Life Centres, castles, museums, factories, forests, and even marine centres from up and down the country.
We held two competitions over the summer, encouraging Passport to Learning holders from Sheffield to get out there and explore the fascinating, exciting and inspiring learning opportunities across the country and even further afield!

Children and young people were asked to send in a picture of themselves with their Passport to Learning at a Learning Destination BEYOND Sheffield.  We had a brilliant response and after some very difficult judging, we are proud to announce the winner!

Libby and her Passport to Learning at the Yorkshire Museum, York


Libby sent us this great picture of her at the Yorkshire Museum in York!  She said she learnt about the Romans, dinosaurs and 'the old days' on her visit, and the best part was holding an owl!  Well done Libby!  A special Sheffield CU goody bag will be winging its way to you!

Our second competition asked for photos of Passports which had been taken to Learning Destinations and the winner would be for the Passport which had travelled the furthest.  We had many entries from children who had visited Learning Destinations in London, York, Hull, Doncaster, Cheshire, Derbyshire, and the list goes on...

However, the outright winner of the competition was (drumroll please!)...

Max in his taekwondo uniform in AUSTRALIA!

...Max!  He visited Australia where he took park in a taekwondo training session on the beach with his Learning Destination - Yong Gi Tae Kwon Do.  We're certain this was the furthest from our office in Sheffield!  Max said 'I completed an hour of taekwondo, practising my patterns and learning my new green belt pattern for my next grading.  The best thing was doing taekwondo in a different country and learning new steps'.  Well done Max - a CU goody bag is on it's way to you too.

Well done to all our children and young people for collecting so many credits at Learning Destinations throughout the summer.  Well done to all the parents, carers and families who made the extra effort to visit exciting learning activities outside of Sheffield   We hope you had a great time.

DON'T FORGET: If you visit a Learning Detsination outside of Sheffield, you MUST complete and return a Diary Sheet (www.sheffield.gov.uk/cu) so we can award your credits.

To find details of Learning Destinations beyond Sheffield, please visit www.childrensuniversity.co.uk/maps to search for your next adventure.