At Valence, we are celebrating after receiving a prestigious Gold Artsmark Award.
Artsmark is the only creative quality standard for schools, accredited by Arts Council England. It transforms teaching through creativity, empowering teachers with the skills they need to embed arts, culture and creativity across the whole curriculum, and is proven to support pupil outcomes and wellbeing.
To achieve their Artsmark Award, Valence Primary School had to develop their arts and cultural provision to embed a broad and ambitious curriculum. This was achieved by creating an overall plan that was committed to and delivered across the whole school.
Over three years Valence Primary School received professional support through an immersive learning programme from Artsmark’s delivery partner, Goldsmiths, University of London, who are world-renowned leaders in creative pedagogy and cultural placemaking.
The Artsmark Assessor commended Valence Primary School on 'Continuing to develop the arts in interesting ways as part of your educational offer, and this is partly dictated at the current time by pressures on funding, and the needs of pupils post pandemic. One of the approaches you have taken involved activities that promote creative mindfulness. This not only gave children a greater say in their artistic and creative work, but it was driven by open ended and exploratory forms of learning that were deeply nurturing and lay strong foundations for future independent study.'
On receiving the award, Mr November (Headteacher) said: “We’re extremely proud of achieving our Artsmark Award. We are committed to delivering a high-quality arts and cultural education. Our Artsmark journey has transformed our school by enabling pupils in our community to access quality cultural experiences that broaden their lives and open doors that they may not be able to without the school's initiative.”
Dr Darren Henley OBE, Chief Executive of Arts Council England, said: “I would like to congratulate Valence Primary School on their Artsmark Award. Creative activities and cultural experiences enrich our lives, open our minds to new possibilities and help us make sense of the world around us. As an awarded Artsmark school, you’re demonstrating that by offering a broad, ambitious and creative curriculum, your young people will develop character and resilience, increasing their knowledge, curiosity and skills that will remain with them through to adult life.”
For more information or images, please contact Miss Rose.
About Artsmark
Artsmark empowers teachers with the skills they need to embed arts, culture and creativity across the whole curriculum through CPD training from our partner, Goldsmiths, University of London. The programme recognises schools’ exceptional commitment to creativity with the Artsmark Award - the only award for arts and cultural provision in England. The Artsmark Award is accredited by Arts Council England (link opens in new window).
Artsmark is open to primary, secondary, special schools and hospital schools, as well as pupil referral units, youth offending teams and sixth form colleges in England. Artsmark is awarded at three levels; Silver, Gold and Platinum. As of September 2024, 51% of Artsmark schools have achieved Artsmark Silver, 40% Artsmark Gold and just 9% hold Artsmark Platinum – find out more about schools on their Artsmark journey here www.artsmark.org.uk (link opens in new window)
About Arts Council England
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. From 2023 to 2026 we will invest over £467 million of public money from Government and an estimated £250 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. This year the National Lottery will celebrate 30 years of supporting good causes in the United Kingdom through raising £49 billion and awarding over 690,000 individual grants since the first draw was held in 1994. Visit the Arts Council’s website to learn more www.artsmark.org.uk (link opens in new window).
About Goldsmiths, University of London
Founded in 1891, Goldsmiths has trained artists, creatives, and educators, shaping the arts and cultural landscape with its distinctive approach. Its staff, students and graduates are deeply engrained in arts and cultural life; and whether as household names in the arts, classroom teachers, cultural and community leaders, their contributions make a difference. www.gold.ac.uk (link opens in new window)
