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21 July 2017
Abbot’s Hill School are delighted to announce that their Artsmark Status has been confirmed and they have been awarded ‘Platinum’ – this is the highest level of award and recognises excellence in the provision of arts and cultural education and experience.
Abbot’s Hill were granted Artsmark status last June, and since then the Arts Council have been looking at the evidence provided by the school as to what level should be awarded. They help schools to audit the great things that are already happening in the arts, and then to identify areas for improvement in the future.
The Artsmark Levelling Panel awarded Abbot’s Hill School a Platinum Level Award in July, highlighting that:
– The school was commended for their ambitious and reflective approach to their Artsmark journey which has allowed Abbot’s Hill to develop their practice to meet Platinum criteria.
– The range on offer available to pupils was noted as a particular strength, as was their aspiration for excellence in all areas of arts and cultural work.
– The panel recognised Abbot’s Hill’s leadership role as a setting with significant resource and expertise in the arts and culture, and look forward to seeing the school continue to extend this sharing to the wider community.
On receiving the award, Mrs Felicity Hindmarsh, Head of the Performing and Creative Arts Faculty, said: “When we embarked on our Artsmark in October 2015, we did not predict the impact it would have on our school and wider community. We have long enjoyed an enviable reputation for the high quality of our outcomes in the arts and we were already rated highly for the provision for creative and performing arts. The Artsmark journey has encouraged us to look at the complex relationship between process and outcome in the arts, and raise our ambitions the highest level of platinum.
Our new focus offered us the challenge to embrace the whole school, and to reach out in new directions to the wider community by creating new partnership opportunities, offering support and arts training to other local schools. A visitor from the Arts Council commented that ‘there is a tangible sense of the arts as the key drivers to the life of the school’ and this is thanks to Abbot’s Hill being extremely well-equipped, well-resourced and with the arts given a high priority by the Governors, the Headmistress and Senior Leadership. We are delighted and proud to have achieved our goal of Platinum Artsmark status.
