Students and staff at Rye Hills Academy are celebrating after receiving the prestigious Artsmark Silver Award which recognises their fantastic arts provision. The award comes during a momentous year for the programme as it celebrates 20 years of arts, culture and creativity in schools.
The Artsmark Award is the only creative quality standard for schools, accredited by Arts Council England. It supports schools to develop and celebrate arts and cultural education, putting creativity and wellbeing at the heart of the curriculum. Artsmark ensures every young person can be creative and access a diverse, high-quality cultural education. In order to achieve the Artsmark Award, staff at Rye Hills Academy had to develop arts and culture 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.
The Artsmark assessor said: “You are positively increasing the emphasis on arts and culture and engaging with the Arts is having tangible results on pupils, staff, and parental engagement. The school has worked hard to deliver a consistent approach to arts throughout the curriculum, including the Culture Vulture programme which has shown a noticeable rise in uptake of arts subjects at Key Stage 4 and has also seen students produce some outstanding creative homework. The focus of this journey has been on developing cultural capital, literacy, and oracy. There is a credible arts offer at both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, with both GCSE and BTEC options. Pupils access a consistent and relevant range of experiences in school and on visits outside the classroom, which leads to showcasing within school and the local community. The Rivers of the World programme, and the painting of the murals commissioned by the local council for the town are great examples of raising aspiration. Curriculum developments are supported by extra-curricular activity, some of which is led by pupils through an arts ambassador programme. Congratulations on your Artsmark Silver Award!"
On receiving the award, Miss Hewitson, Head of Art at Rye Hills Academy said: “We’re extremely proud of achieving our Artsmark Silver Award. We are committed to championing a high-quality arts and cultural education and we look forward to continuing our journey with Artsmark.”
Dr Darren Henley CBE, Chief Executive of the Arts Council, said:
“I would like to congratulate Rye Hills Academy on their Artsmark Award. Becoming an Artsmark school demonstrates that through offering a broad, ambitious, and creative curriculum, every pupil can develop character and resilience, increasing their knowledge, curiosity and skills that will remain with them through to adult life.”
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