The Heritage Park showcase will also see local singer-songwriter Sun singing in his inimitable country soul style and mark the debut of the Heritage Park School Band, who are hoping this will be the first step to stardom.

Charlotte Osborn from Heritage Park Community School said: "Everyone at the school and in the local community are really excited about this event. It is the first live gig the Heritage School Band will have ever played and they have been rehearsing really hard."

There will be two performances at noon and 6pm to open the performance programme which this year features 20 shows by children at schools across the city.

The closure for redevelopment of the Crucible and Merlin theatres has not stopped this busy section of the festival. Theatre, dance and music performances will take place in venues such as the Montgomery Theatre, the Library Theatre and various schools.

There will be the usual mix of traditional theatre, such as Shakespeare's The Tempest presented by High Storrs and Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance by St Wilfrid's RC Primary, and modern musicals such as The Lion King by Ecclesall Junior School, Return to the Forbidden Planet by Inyerface Theatre Company and the Stage Musical Theatres School presentation of Oliver!

A range of new productions includes London Road presented by Sharrow Primary School and The Robin Hood Files by Malin Bridge Primary School. Arbourthorne Primary's The Wardrobe of Time combines time travel, Elizabethan theatre and the story of King Lear, while Splash by Deepcar St John's Junior School is a comic take on Noah's Ark.

This five-week festival, run by Sheffield City Council and sponsored by Taylor Woodrow and Arts & Business, celebrates the creative talent of more than 20,000 children and young people from 130 schools in Sheffield by providing an opportunity for their work to be displayed or performed.

An event this week in the Winter Garden celebrated the diverse cultures shared by children in the city. Some of the participants were refugees or asylum-seekers, others have lived in Sheffield all their lives, but it was all part of Refugee Week.

Coun Andrew Sangar, city council cabinet member for children's service and lifelong learning, said: ""We have some great work going on in our schools to celebrate the vast range of cultures and heritages among our communities. Children and young people can teach us a lot about living side by side in harmony, so it is great that they are performing during Refugee Week."

Jim Steinke of the Northern Refugee Centre said: "Refugees who've started new lives here are keen to show people the best bits of their own cultures. This performance offers the children and young people a chance to show they are proud of their roots and where they are from but that living in Sheffield has made a real difference to their lives."