Hathershaw College wins prestigious Gold Artsmark award

Staff and pupils at Hathershaw College are celebrating their achievement after being presented with the prestigious Gold Artsmark award.

Artsmark is the only creative quality standard for schools and is accredited by the Arts Council England.

The programme transforms teaching through creativity, empowering teachers with the skills they need to embed arts, culture and creativity across the whole curriculum.

Artsmark has been proven to support pupil outcomes and wellbeing.

By embarking on their Artsmark journey, the school has developed 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. 

The 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.

Mrs Mills, Curriculum leader for Expressive Arts at Hathershaw, said: “At the start of our Artsmark journey, we knew our school was firmly committed to providing high-quality opportunities for all our students.

"The school's mission statement is to improve the lives and life chances of young people through raising aspirations.

"We aligned our Artsmark journey goals alongside the school priorities and used the Artsmark quality standards to identify and drive our intentions forward.

"We recognise that our students need to be well informed about the 21st-century creative industries workforce and establishing cultural partnerships benefits all of us in so many ways.

"Our students experienced a real sense of belonging and personal progression throughout our Artsmark journey and we could not be more delighted to announce that our school has been awarded Artsmark Gold by Arts Council England.

"We are excited about the future and the exciting ways we will continue to provide authentic experiences for Hathershaw students.”

Mark Giles, Principal of Hathershaw College, said: “We must not underestimate the impact of the arts on the development of young people and it is therefore important to make space in the curriculum for creativity. 

"Cultural capital and having an awareness of the world are all developed through the arts, which Hathershaw delivers extremely well.

"I am delighted with our Artsmark status, which reflects the hard work and determination of the team at Hathershaw.”

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