Round two of Artstart5

An unqualified success – that is the general verdict on the ongoing Artstart5 project, with two more Letchworth Garden City primary schools ‘signing up’ to join the existing 11, for phase two.

Last year, the Heritage Foundation made a grant of £28,000 to fund the first phase and have now pledged a further £28,000 to cover the next 12 months programme.

Working with the Insight Arts Foundation, the aim of the project is to audit the participating schools’ arts curriculums and identify areas in which they could develop. Four-day sessions at schools, working with professionals in all aspects of creative art, are included, along with training on art-based lessons for teachers and some teaching assistants. These sessions are used to develop pupils’ ability to be creative thinkers.

Teachers have time allocated to them for school visits by arts professionals to help them develop their Arts curriculum. This could be through observing the teacher, working together to plan a topic, or a combination of these.

Alastair Stewart, the Foundation’s Education & Sports Development Manager, told Insight: “The project offers a unique experience for teachers to learn together and create a local network that supports their school’s Arts curriculum.” Local councillors, community groups, Foundation Board members, parents and pupils attended the 2007 Celebration Day of the project, at the Grange School, on June 28.

And in June 2008, there will be an Artstart5 Conference, which will share the outcomes of the research into the effect the programme has had in individual and collective child performances and on the skills set of the teachers involved in the training.

Article taken from the now available Winter 2007 edition of Insight magazine. Click here to download a copy of the magazine.