Manor Court School received prestigious Artsmark Gold Award

Manor Court Community Primary School received the Artsmark Gold Award on Monday, September 5 in 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 well-being 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 their Artsmark Award, Manor Court had to develop its arts and culture provision to embed a broad and ambitious curriculum, led by Laura Grabham and Janet Morton.

This was achieved by creating an overall plan that was committed to and delivered across the whole school.

Alongside a new curriculum, the school has provided pupils with a variety of Arts experiences over the last three years, including putting on public Art exhibitions and Variety Shows, participating in community projects such as Culturally Chard and the Carnival, watching concerts and plays, and having guest speakers from the world of film, television, theatre, and music.

Some of the pupils' creations (Image: Submitted)

The Artsmark assessor commended the school on the progress made in the three years since their Artsmark journey started, particularly considering the limitations of Covid lockdowns.

They said that key elements to the school’s success were the ‘commitment to overhauling the existing curriculum and ensuring that Arts had focus and drive within it’, and how the school ‘adapted to work in innovative ways online’, commending the ‘fantastic lockdown arts offer that was as rich as it was varied.’

On receiving the award, Luke Talmage, head teacher said: “We’re delighted and extremely proud of achieving our Artsmark Gold Award.

“We are committed to delivering high-quality art 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 Manor Court 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.”

Janet Morton said: "We have an amazing team at Manor Court, whose collective goal is to help our pupils achieve their potential not just academically, but emotionally, creatively, imaginatively and in sport.
"Receiving this award acknowledges the hard work of all staff and pupils." 

Laura Grabham added: “To be given Artsmark Gold on our first cycle is fantastic.

“Many schools go through two or three cycles before they achieve this level, and we are thrilled to be recognised in this way. What a great way to start the year.”