At New Town, we believe art and design should be broad and rich, contemporary and diverse. We encourage students to develop individual creative responses, informed and inspired by the world around them. Teaching art should be as rigorous and disciplined as any other subject, and we aim to build knowledge and skills through a range of open-ended projects. We also understand that art is subjective and experiential – it is best understood when learning is embedded through experience. By keeping our understanding of all discipline areas as open as possible, we ensure that we keep art as inclusive and accessible to every child.

We follow the Access Art primary curriculum, a charity founded and run by artists and art specialists. Access Art emphasises the importance of an exploratory approach to art which encourages children to undertake an independent, open-ended creative journey. Children will gain experience in a broad range of disciplines and have the opportunity to discuss and evaluate the work of numerous influential artists. We want the children of New Town to feel inspired and confident through art.

At New Town we embrace a collaborative whole school approach to art and design and we are proud of the opportunities we provide for the children. The school works with external art facilitators and artists to provide fun workshops and has even hosted a whole school art exhibition.

We have worked very hard to improve our Arts provision over the past few years at NT and are the proud recipients of the Artsmark Silver Award.  

The Artsmark project and subsequent Silver award has been a whole school effort over a number of years, and involved subject leaders from across the spectrum, delivering great opportunities in not only art, but drama, dance, design and music.  The school has amazing partnerships with local arts organisations who provide cultural depth and a sense of connection to the local area and its wealth of history. We have also created a dedicated Art Loft, a beautiful renovated old building which is now a fantastic arts space equipped with a pottery kiln, resources and a bright and light space to help children feel inspired and energised.  As 90% of our children have English as an Additional Language, our arts provision is brilliant at engaging those at various levels of language acquisition, and used as a therapeutic intervention with our most vulnerable, ultimately building a deep rooted sense of belonging within our wonderful school community. 

Here is what the ArtsMark assessors wrote about our Arts provision in late 2023:

Evidently, you place high value on the arts, and recognise that they serve to underpin your school values of Nurturing Brilliance, Inspiring Ambition. Over the course of your Artsmark journey, you have carefully reviewed your arts curriculum so that it is now mapped across the school, supported by progression documents which ensure children are building on prior learning and developing their skills. You have also successfully introduced the use of sketchbooks, depicting children’s progress in skills as they move through the school. Your extra-curricular arts offer has been strengthened, so that children can take part in art, choir, dance, sewing and book clubs, amongst others. Children’s cultural capital has been developed through a programme of trips to arts and culture venues, and regular opportunities to work alongside arts professionals from ‘Reading Rep’ and ‘Jelly’, all of which is helping children to discover their personal interests and talents. Pupils relish opportunities to proudly showcase their work in displays, performances, musical compositions and exhibitions, which is raising the profile of the arts with stakeholders and within the local community. School staff understand the contribution that the arts curriculum at New Town Primary makes to children’s personal development, self-confidence, well-being and resilience. We commend that you support your most vulnerable children through access to arts-based therapeutic interventions, which are raising their self-esteem. School leaders and governors have demonstrated their commitment to the arts through the funding of your refurbished, dedicated visual art space, ‘The Art Loft’, and investment in online resources, such as Kapow. Staff have benefitted from training across arts subjects, led by curriculum leaders as well as external professionals, so that teachers’ confidence has been boosted and standards have risen.