What is Artsmark?
Artsmark is the creative quality standard for schools, accredited by Arts Council England. It provides a clear framework for teachers to plan, develop and evaluate arts, culture and creativity across the curriculum.
We have achieved Artsmark Gold on two successive occasions and now, for the last two years, Upper Beeding Primary has embarked on another journey to reaffirm our commitment to the arts. It has been an exciting time which has seen our children access quality learning and resources to ensure that they have an enriched experience across the arts within the curriculum.
What are the 'Arts'?
The arts include subjects such as music, art, dance, art, creative writing. We place these very highly in our curriculum as studies have shown how beneficial these practical subjects are to children.
"Many of the best schools use the arts to help bring the whole curriculum alive and engage young people with their education in a creative and meaningful way. Artsmark not only recognises schools with excellent arts provision, but requires schools to use the arts as a tool to develop learning across the curriculum. The Artsmark programme recognises those schools providing a good education across the board, not just good arts provision." Liz McFarlane, Arts Education Consultant, Artsmark
What does our Ofsted inspection (2015) say about our arts provision?
"The high profile which the school places on the arts enables pupils to develop strongly their skills and talents in this area. Music plays a very prominent part in school life, as do the creative arts. This is evident from pupils’ extensive and enthusiastic participation in musical activities, and in the quality of their artwork. This aspect of the curriculum contributes extremely effectively to pupils’ spiritual and cultural development."
" Pupils’ cultural development is considerably enhanced by the school’s strong focus on the arts, especially music."
"The quality of pupils’ singing, and of their work in art and design on display around the school, shows that they are reaching equally high standards in these areas."
Who has been involved in our Artsmark journey?
We have a number of people who are key to our journey and enable quality experiences across the arts:
- Mrs Becky Linford - Headteacher
- Mrs Corrine Wellby - Arts and Music Leader
- Mrs Dee Taylor - Art Leader
- Miss Hayley Stuart - PE / Dance Leader
- Miss Ceri Pemberton-Bates - KS2 Creative Writing
- Simon Ray - Governor
- Arts Council - a group of KS2 children who have a passion for the arts
Partnership with the BBC
In April 2018, a group of KS2 children were given the opportunity to work with the BBC on an Arts project which saw them writing their own arts radio programme, record it at the BBC Radio Sussex studio and see first-hand of how a radio programme is put together.
The children were given an initial input from Neil Pringle, radio broadcaster for BBC Sussex and Chair of Governors, who advised them on the structure of a radio programme. Using this information, the children wrote their individual segments about the arts within Upper Beeding which also included interviews from children across the school and teachers.
This was a highly successful project culminating in a 20 minute radio broadcast. Click below to hear the radio programme.
Statement of Commitment
The first part of this journey involved writing a Statement of Commitment which highlighted our current provision but also detailed ways in which we would provide the children with other quality experiences over the two years. Click below to read our statement.
Click on the films below to see some of the exciting arts opportunities the children engage in.