This week, Arts Council England is celebrating the 3,000 Artsmark schools who are ‘putting arts and culture at the heart of education’. St Joseph’s College has been part of the Artsmark community for 10 years, retaining the highest level of Gold awarded by Arts Council England.Our College is nationally recognised as a school that makes the Arts come alive, ultimately ensuring our students engage and develop happy self-expressive confidence. This is seen through the seven quality principles within our high quality Arts education:
- Striving for excellence and invocation
- Being authentic
- Being exciting, inspiring and engaging
- Ensuring a positive and inclusive experience
- Actively involving children and young people
- Enabling personal progression
- Developing belonging and ownership
Artsmark has helped to develop and fine-tune the provision for Arts education at St Joseph’s College, identifying the value of high quality Arts education. We have also seen through a significant uptake and participation within the Arts at all age ranges and community levels, that the process of engagement in the Arts has resulted in increased confidence and improved self-esteem, challenging children and impacting on achievements across other subjects. Part of our unique Arts education is the opportunity for all Year 8 students to participate in the Arts Award Bronze programme; a programme that encourages our students to grow their arts and leadership talents. Intrinsically, arts and culture illuminate our students’ lives and enrich their emotional world. Yet its extrinsic value goes much wider, having a measurable impact upon our health and wellbeing, economy, society and education. The Arts Award programme enables our students to connect, engage and most importantly to discover more about the world around them through the many varied art forms we offer. Our approach towards Arts education is one of inclusivity, by nurturing, which is what makes St Joseph’s College so special.
A dedicated Arts day at the start of the academic year provides a platform of creativity for our key stage 3 students. This year, Year 7 visited the National Gallery looking at Middle Eastern Art before venturing to the theatre to watch Aladdin the Musical. Year 8 students, undertaking Arts Award Bronze, used their Arts Educational Day to learn about cultures and diversity within modern art at Tate Modern. In the afternoon the students watched the highly acclaimed Mamma Mia to explore the strand of ‘being part of an audience’. Our Year 9 students explored the Jasper Johns’ exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts to learn more about the iconic pieces from the Pop Art movement. In the afternoon, coinciding with the College’s own musical, Year 9 watched School of Rock. At St Joseph’s College we believe our children learn best when they can work and experience the Arts first hand, authenticity is key to a child’s development.
To find out more about Arts Award at St Joseph’s College follow this link to the page on the Arts Council England website
http://www.nnfestival.org.uk/stjosephscollege
Mrs V Harvey, Head of Creative and Performing Arts
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