Celebrating 2015!

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

Celebrate!

Highlights this year include:

• Over 32,300 children and young people are registered with CU in Sheffield and have collectively gained 1,608,4422 credits in total so far. That’s 352,580 hours that children and young people have taken part in during 2015, and over 5,500 children and young people who have started collecting CU credits this year.

• There are now 166 Learning Destinations (and counting!) across Sheffield. This year, to our family of Learning Destinations, we have added @The Academy, Active Kids (University of Sheffield), Alegira Arts, Amore Spanish Club, Castle Martial Arts, Chapeltown Pool, Charnock Ridgeway Junior Football Club, City Limits Dance Centre, Creative Explorers, Excel Dance & Martial Arts, Explore Learning – Hillsborough, Great Escape Game – Sheffield, Hallamshire Academy of Tennis, Handsworth Grange Sports Centre, Harmony Music School, High Green Gymnastics, Japanese Play and Study Group, Kip McGrath Education Centres (North and Central Sheffield), Longshaw Estate (National Trust), Makenki Karate Club, Noodle Performance Arts, Oakes Holiday Centre, Play in Dore, Pauline Quirke Academy (Sheffield), Red Karate, Se Habla Espanol, Sheffield Cathedral Heritage activities, Sheffield Fellowship – New Arrivals Programme, SHINE Health Academy, Stagecoach Sheffield Beighton, Star Strikers FCA, Underbank Activity Centre, Yorkshire Karate Centre, and a huge number of Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Rainbows, Brownies and Guides!

• During 2015, Sheffield CU have given out nearly 6,000 Bronze Awards, 4,000 Silver Awards and have had a fabulous 1,704 Gold Award winners who have been invited to the Town Hall or Universities to receive their Award. 

• There are currently 68 schools subscribed to Sheffield Children’s University. New additions include: Windmill Hill Primary, Ballifield Primary, Norfolk Community Primary, Shooter’s Grove Primary and Sheffield Inclusion Centre.

• During November, we invited children and young people to wear a Sheffield CU cap and gown throughout our award ceremony for the first time. We wouldn't have been able to introduce this fantastic opportunity to our award winners without the support of the Sheffield Hallam University Outreach team who very kindly sponsored the gowns to allow us to purchase enough for all our award winners. We have been collecting feedback on this development and the response had been overwhelming positive! We look forward to inviting more children and young people to have this experience at our ceremonies in the new year.

• We're thrilled to be working with Herd of Sheffield and Sheffield Children's Hospital and Charity not only to have our very own elephant as part of the 'Little Herd' but also to develop an exciting activity to coincide with the trail of elephants appearing across the city next summer. Of course children with a Passport to Learning will be able to collect CU credits for taking part! Keep your eyes peeled for more info in the new year!

• We have been overwhelmed by the incredible support for our work across the city. From schools, families and children and young people to Learning Destinations, fellow Council Services, the Universities, and other partners, we are so happy to hear how proud you are to be part of CU in Sheffield. Don't just take our word for it, here's Councillor Jackie Drayton, Cabinet member for Children, Young People and Families at Sheffield City Council talking about the real difference being part of CU in Sheffield can make: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap9idsIG7CQ

• The Sheffield CU Forest School programme has grown significantly during 2015. Our lovely Helen has worked with 120 Y6 children also from Lydgate Junior School in the summer, each spending a day learning how to cook on a fire in a woodland setting, including a very tasty vegetable stew! Helen also delivered a number of days with Emmaus CE/RC Primary foundation Stage both at Manor Lodge and Norfolk Park. In the Autumn Term, Helen ‘branched out’(sorry!) and worked with staff and Y6 pupils from St Bede’s RC Primary in Rotherham. She delivered a session with the pupils and two twilight training sessions with the staff team, supporting them to develop their outdoor area and Forest School-type activities in school curriculum.

• This year’s ’project in a box’ a Samba Box developed in partnership with our friends at Sheffield Music Hub, has been a fantastic success! 40 boxes were made available exclusively to our CU schools and included everything needed to deliver at least a 6 week programme of out of school music and samba sessions. This project engages more schools than ever before, and the boxes were very well received by school staff at a special twilight session back in November. All schools will be brought together at a special samba event, which hopefully will link with the Rio Olympics and provide students with a fab opportunity to play with a professional samba band!

• During November, there were 23 successful applications to the Acorn Fund. This initiative was launched last year and gives each CU school the opportunity to bid for up to £250 of grant funding to create, grow or sustain a CU out of school activity. The application must come from students in school, as the idea is to encourage and empower children and young people to become fully involved in the development of activities in school, as well as interacting with school staff and their peers to survey need, identify gaps and consider sustainability. Clubs funded during the Autumn term include Grow Your Own Cooking Club, Stop Motion Animation Club, Raspberry Pi Club, Lego Club and Sewing Club.

• Free CU LIVE! activities have been taking place during the holidays, with some fabulous activities from Imagination Gaming, Museums Sheffield, The University of Sheffield Student Union volunteering to name but a few! CU LIVE! will be back next year, and will be coming to a venue near you! This will kick off with a very special Sheffield Science Saturday delivered by our friends at Sheffield Volunteering and the student societies on February 20th in the Winter Garden. More info will be available early in the new year. 

• Our team are hoping to appoint a new apprentice to join the Sheffield CU team in the new year. This role will work alongside Sakina Kingswood inputting data and producing award certificates.

• February Freebie will be back and bigger than ever in 2016! There are currently over 40 (and counting!) FREE CU activities for children and young people who have a Passport to Learning will be happening across the city during the February half term. Look out for leaflets and posters which will be available early in the New Year!

And we are sure there will be lots more to celebrate in 2016!

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 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, have a restful break and look forward to seeing you in the new year.

Merry Christmas!

Katie, Helen O, Sakina, Helen N and Cara
The Sheffield CU Team