23 October 2012

Young achievers celebrate splendid success

Hard working youngsters from across South Yorkshire are celebrating their success after reaching a tremendous milestone as part of the Sheffield Children's University (CU) scheme.

Almost 200 pupils from six secondary schools across the city attended a special awards ceremony at the University of Sheffield last week (17 October 2012) 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 including arts and crafts, wildlife explorations and environmental activities.

Sheffield CU is part of a national initiative that encourages and celebrates participation in a wide range of learning opportunities. Children and young people are awarded one credit per hour of engagement and are presented with awards at various milestones such as 30, 65 and 100 credits.

Currently, there are more than 16,000 children and young people across the city taking part, collecting credits and clocking up more than 500,000 hours at learning destinations across the region including museums, libraries and Heeley City Farm.

Stephen Carding, Outreach Activities Officer at the University of Sheffield, said: "It was fantastic to see so many young people, parents, carers, teachers and school staff coming together to celebrate the on-going efforts and achievements of the young people taking part in Children’s University initiatives.

"The beaming smiles on the faces of the award recipients showed how much they appreciated the recognition of their efforts, and the positive effect this had on their confidence and self-esteem was clear for all to see.

"The sheer scale and breadth of extra-curricular activities regularly taking place within schools and other venues is truly inspiring and really demonstrates that the desire to learn, experience and develop is boundless amongst these young people. This bodes well for the future, not only for them, but for society as a whole."

Research shows a clear link between participation in CU activities and increased attendance and attainment at school. The most recent Participation and Performance Analysis evidences the impact of Sheffield CU, and clearly shows that the performance in SATs and GCSEs of children and young people are significantly better than non CU children and young people.

Sheffield CU also works in partnership with Languages Sheffield to ensure students who give up their time to learn their home language are celebrated and rewarded through the HoLA (Home Language Accreditation) project.