“Studying cultural education subjects, such as art and design, dance, drama and music, sparks creativity across the curriculum, encouraging young people to be inquisitive, disciplined and determined. Wherever children start in life, a high-quality cultural education in every school should be a right, not a privilege.” Darren Henley OBE Chief Executive, Arts Council England.

The benefits of an arts education to the wellbeing of the individual, and its role in social mobility, are manifold. Drawing on research done by the Cultural Learning Alliance, students from low-income families who take part in arts activities at school are three times more likely to get a degree, twice as likely to volunteer and 20% more likely to vote as young adults; children who take part in arts activities in the home during their early years are ahead in reading and maths at age nine; and people who take part in the arts are 38% more likely to report good health.

With this at the forefront of our curriculum design, we aim to enable pupils to think about the purpose of art and artists to all our lives, ensuring that as children grow they feel entitled to express and better understand themselves (and the world in which they live) through making and talking about art.

We believe Art teaching should be aspirational yet accessible. Teachers do not need to be “good at art” to be a great art teacher – they only need to be willing to explore, alongside our pupils, modelling an attitude of curiosity, open-mindedness, creative-risk taking and reflection. Our curriculum offers pupils one which is broad and rich, contemporary and diverse. By keeping our understanding of all discipline areas (drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture etc) as open as possible we ensure that we keep art as inclusive and accessible to every child. Teaching art can and should be as rigorous and disciplined as any other subject, building skills and knowledge through a combination of opportunities for repeated practice and new projects. Art is subjective and experiential – and there are many types of “knowledge” all of which are best understood when the knowledge is embedded in experience.