Artsmark Silver Award for Brantridge School

Staff and pupils at Brantridge School were delighted to learn they have been awarded an Artsmark Silver Award. Artsmark is the only creative quality standard for schools, accredited by Arts Council England. It supports them to develop and celebrate arts and cultural education across the whole curriculum, bringing learning to life for children and young people.

In order to achieve their Artsmark Award, the school had to develop the arts and culture provision to embed a broad and balanced curriculum. This was achieved by creating an overall plan that was committed to and delivered across the whole school.

The Artsmark assessor commended the school for developing the profile of the Arts across the curriculum, saying:

“Brantridge School has used its first Artsmark journey to develop the profile of the Arts, and has done so successfully despite the challenges of the pandemic and significant changes in whole school development, with the school almost doubling in size. You have based your approach on supportive CPD provided by those with arts specialisms within the school, and particularly on the Art lead’s input.

Staff have felt supported and have adopted the use of the create arts as part of their pedagogy. Art is used to support topic work. The use of Drama in English has led to improved writing outcomes. The Arts are used to give a WOW start to topics and to showcase pupils’ understanding.

You have supported the curriculum through the use of online resources provided by creative practitioners and organisations. You have increased the number of visits with an arts and cultural content and have made contact with other educational settings to share good practice. Going forward, you have plans to develop your digital arts, supported by appropriate CPD.”

On receiving the award, Prinicipal Dafydd Roberts said: “We’re extremely proud of achieving our Artsmark Silver Award. We are committed to delivering a high-quality arts and cultural education and we look forward to continue to grow with Artsmark.”

Dr Darren Henley OBE, Chief Executive of the Arts Council, said: “I would like to congratulate Brantridge School on their Artsmark Award. Becoming an Artsmark school demonstrates that through offering a broad, balanced and creative curriculum, young people have the opportunity to develop character and resilience, increasing their knowledge, curiosity and skills that will remain with them through to adult life.”