Celebrating Artsmark Gold

Artsmark is the Arts Council England’s award celebrating schools that champion arts and culture, providing young people with high-quality creative opportunities and embedding creativity across school life. We are delighted that Kings Heath Secondary School has achieved Artsmark Gold, recognising the impact and ambition of our work.

Recognising the Impact of Creativity at KHSS

“Artsmark has helped shape sustained change, elevating the arts
from an enrichment activity to acting as a strong driver for
leadership, oracy and high quality learning across the curriculum.”

Achieving Artsmark Gold is a significant milestone for Kings Heath Secondary School, recognising our sustained commitment to embedding arts and culture across school life. Our Artsmark assessors recognised the impact this journey has had across the school, highlighting how the arts are now valued not only within the Creative Arts Faculty but across the school, helping to drive leadership, oracy and high-quality learning.

For us, this achievement is about much more than an award. It reflects our belief that every student should have the opportunity to discover their talents, experience new things and develop the confidence to aim high and pursue their ambitions. This is Aspiration in action.

Creativity Across the Curriculum

“The arts are integrated across other areas of learning…
A whole school focus on oracy has ensured that speaking,
performance and presentation skills are used
in subjects such as Geography and DT…”

One of the key strengths highlighted by our Artsmark assessors was the way the arts have become embedded across the curriculum at Kings Heath Secondary School. Rather than being seen simply as an enrichment opportunity, creativity is increasingly helping to drive high-quality learning, leadership and oracy across the school.

This can be seen in a range of subjects and learning experiences:

• Developing oracy: Our whole-school focus on oracy encourages students to develop their speaking, presentation and performance skills across the curriculum.
• Geography and Design Technology: Students are given opportunities to communicate their ideas confidently and effectively, using skills developed through our focus on performance and oracy.
• English: Drama strategies such as Hot Seating and Whoosh are used to deepen students’ comprehension, analysis and engagement with texts.
• Building confidence: Creative approaches give students opportunities to express themselves, take risks, collaborate with others and develop their confidence as learners.

This reflects our belief that creativity has an important role to play in helping every student to become a confident communicator, curious learner and ambitious young person,bringing our value of Aspiration to life across the curriculum.

Expanding Opportunities for Every Student

“Students have seen live theatre performances,
performed at a number of events…
and taken part in whole school events such as the Grand Iftar.”

A key strength highlighted by our Artsmark assessors was the breadth of our arts and cultural offer. Since beginning our second Artsmark journey, we have significantly increased the opportunities available to students, helping more young people discover new interests, develop their talents and experience the arts in different ways.

Students have had opportunities to:

• Experience live theatre and attend performances and cultural events.
• Develop their musical talents through clubs, concerts, performances and the introduction of GCSE Music.
• Explore different dance styles and cultures, including Street Dance, African Dance and Flamenco.
• Take part in creative workshops, including dance and scriptwriting.
• Experience arts and culture beyond the classroom through trips and wider school events, including the Grand Iftar.

This growing range of opportunities reflects our ambition to ensure that every student can find something to inspire them, develop their creativity and help them raise the bar.

Aspiration beyond school: careers in the creative industries

“Careers in the creative industries are actively promoted.”

Our commitment to the arts is also about helping students understand where their creativity can take them in the future. Our assessors highlighted our work to promote careers in the creative industries, including opportunities for students to engage with professionals and explore the world of Film and Television through workshops organised by the BBC.

Students are beginning to see music, performance and the wider creative industries as real and exciting career pathways. As we continue to build on our Artsmark Gold achievement, we will look for further opportunities to connect students with creative professionals and inspire them to consider ambitious futures in the arts and beyond.

Looking ahead: Gold is a milestone, not the destination

Our Artsmark Gold Award is an important milestone, but our ambition is to keep raising the bar. We look forward to building on this work and creating even more opportunities for our students to experience, enjoy and succeed through the arts.

We are incredibly proud of what our students and staff have achieved together. Our thanks go to our Head of Faculty, the Creative Arts Team and colleagues across the school who continue to make the arts such an important part of life at KHSS.