Sheffield Children’s University (CU) has received overwhelmingly positive feedback on their release of their new song.
The Children’s University is a nationwide education project that strives to support children’s enrichment in extracurricular activities and in Sheffield the branch works closely with schools across the city.
The track was made in partnership with Sheffield City Council and The Sheffield College to create an uplifting song that captures the spirit of Sheffield Children’s University.
Katie Hamshaw, Children’s University Project Manager, spoke on the launch of ‘Anything I want To Be’.
“The song is about empowering our children and young people to dream big and through the CU, those opportunities are available to them.”
“The children sang on the songs, being featured on the backing vocals and they were involved in some of the initial conversations around the song of what Children University means to them.”
The official launch ceremony of ‘Anything I Want To Be’ took place at the Sheffield CU Gold Awards Ceremony last week at Sheffield Hallam University.
There was a live performance of the song by staff from The Sheffield College, and parents/carers, school staff. The young award winners were invited and were encouraged to join in signing along.
“There was singing and dancing and by the end the children were swinging their caps and gowns around! The school staff were all joining in and that was fabulous on the night.” Ms Hamshaw said.
To enable children with SEND to participate in the song, the CU team approached workers leading the CU work at the NEXUS academy trust group of schools. A member of staff was able to translate the words of the song into Makaton sign language in the video for the song.
“We are about focusing on the difference that learning makes to their self esteem, path of lifelong learning, what they choose to do in their future careers and whether they choose to go to college, university or employment.” Ms Hamshaw said
Ash Muscroft, Music Programme Coordinator and Tutor at The Sheffield College said: “I feel honoured to have co-written and performed it at such an exciting awards ceremony.”
“It was also great to showcase our brand new state-of-the-art Laney equipment.”
The song is going to be available on 72 streaming sites and will be released in the coming weeks.