We did it!- Maintaining our Advanced Quality Award

We have achieved another important milestone here in Sheffield and we can’t wait to share the news!

Some of you may be aware of the QiSS (Quality in Study Support) Awards. For those who haven’t come across it previously, QiSS is a national quality assurance framework that schools and learning organisations can utilise to demonstrate that they deliver high quality provision that makes a real difference to children, young people and families.

The achievement of the three quality marks demonstrates excellence in a variety of areas including raising attainment and achievement and engaging learners with a variety of needs. The Sheffield CU team previously received Advanced status (the final level of a 3 step award system) back in June 2014 after a very rigorous external validation process. In order to maintain our Advanced status which expired after 3 years, we were tasked with building another portfolio which provided evidence of how we have continued to develop a high quality service. We also demonstrated how we developed our Advanced practice even further by leading training and strategically supporting our area of work at local and national levels.

Both Helen and I were overwhelmed with the fantastic feedback we received from our recognition meeting, which was more of a celebration of our work. We were praised on providing a ‘wonderful portfolio’ which was full of ‘outstanding evidence’ of all our work. We are very proud to have maintained our status at Advanced, showing that we are indeed making a real difference to all those involved in Children’s University here in Sheffield. We have found the QiSS process so valuable in informing our development and allowing us identify and address gaps in our provision.

Achieving this award would not have been possible without the help of our critical friend Anita de Brouwer. And also a BIG thank you to all of our schools, Learning Destinations, partners and parents/carers for being so instrumental in the development of CU here in Sheffield and helping us grow such a fantastic project. We couldn’t be more proud!