2021 has certainly been another extraordinary year! It’s been full of highs and lows but as we reflect back, one thing that has remained constant is the outstanding commitment to learning shown by children and their families, by schools, by Learning Destinations and by our partners.
Time after time we have witnessed school staff, parents/carers, activity providers and colleagues going above and beyond to ensure they could continue to deliver as many learning opportunities as possible for the children and young people in their care. They have continually demonstrated their dedication, creativity and kindness, and we are so proud to work alongside them. And time and time again we have been truly amazed by the resilience and positivity of the amazing children and young people of our city who have continued to learn and achieve, despite the challenges they have faced.
They have certainly inspired us to keep driving forward and we feel really proud to have been able to continue to provide what support we could as well as growing Sheffield CU this year too. We look forward to 2022 and hopefully celebrating the commitment and achievements of our amazing CU members at one of our real life award ceremonies as soon as possible!
In the meantime, here’s our Sheffield CU year in numbers…
- 44,892 children and young people with CU credits in Sheffield
- 3,482,403 CU credits awarded so far
- Over 90,000 hours added in 2021, including over 20,000 hours spent developing creative problem solving skills, over 30,000 hours spend developing communication skills, over 21,000 hours spend developing self-management skills and 19,000 hours spent developing collaboration and interpersonal skills.
- Over 500 out of school activities registered with us in 2021 (and counting!)
- 60 schools signed up and engaged with Sheffield Children’s University, including 2 new ones!
- 242 Learning Destinations (approved activity providers) participating across Sheffield. 21 brand new Learning Destinations have been added in 2021 including brownies and scouts groups, Amazelab, Sparkle Sheffield, Steel City Sports, Makers Future, Sheffield Music Academy, Sheffield United Cricket Club and many more!
- 700 Gold awards, 850 Silver & 1,302 Bronze awards have been issued during 2021. There have been an amazing 96,000 CU Awards issued since 2008 proving just how talented and committed Sheffield children, young people and families are to their out of school learning!
- 70 FREE activities were delivered by 15 Learning Destinations across 6 weeks of summer as part of the 7th annual Sheffield CU Festival of Fun. 11 of these activities were tailored for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
- 5 virtual ceremony experiences were rolled out to our award winners who couldn’t attend real life ceremonies due to COVID restrictions. Children and young people were invited to take part in special celebratory home learning challenge and watch a Sheffield CU virtual ceremony video full of special speeches and performances. Schools were offered loans of our university style caps and gowns to support in school celebrations and our individual passport award winners received a special book of activity vouchers from our Learning Destinations
- 35 Essential Life Skills challenges and 15 school holiday themed home learning activities were created and published by the team to support children, young people, families and schools during this extraordinary time, as well as 6 passport activity newsletters crammed full of activities delivered across the city by our Learning Destinations
- 40 schools taking part in our 2021 South Yorkshire CU Medicine and Healthcare Project in a Box to help inspire our children and young people to become medics of the future! 25 schools in Sheffield are joined by 15 more from across Rotherham and Doncaster for the first time, delivering activities developed and supported by University of Sheffield students.
- 6 activities were funded through the Sheffield CU Acorn Fund which enables children and young people to bid for funds to develop, sustain or re-invigorate a CU activity in school. Activities funded in this round included an attention autism club, a samba club, a mighty minds club, a cooking club, a gardening club and an imagination gaming club
- 1 parent/carer survey was rolled out for the first time inviting families to tell us what they think about the service we offer so we can continue to ensure we are doing all we can to meet the needs of children, young people and families in our city. We asked them what they thought about our award ceremonies, why they thought it was important for schools to be part of CU and what difference CU had on their child as well as lots of other things too! There were lots of positive outcomes, some of which you can find here: https://bit.ly/SCUParentCarerSurvey
- Over 100 participating CU schools across South Yorkshire, all supported by South Yorkshire CU, led by Katie and Helen through Sheffield Hallam University. This work aims to develop a brand new regional CU partnership to create even more opportunities for the children, families, schools and activity providers of South Yorkshire. Watch this space for more developments in 2022!
- And a partridge in a pear treeeee! 😃
Finally, we want to take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to you, along with all our colleagues, schools, Learning Destinations and partners for continuing to support our work and ensuring the children and young people of our wonderful city are celebrated and rewarded for their achievements, even in the most challenging of circumstances.
We really hope you enjoy the festive season, have a restful break and look forward to seeing you in the new year.
Merry Christmas!
Katie, Helen, Sakina and Laura
The Sheffield CU Team
