Be Part of a Larger Project Arts and Culture Enrichment in your School
Engaging with local, regional and national visual art initiatives can help pupils feel part of something beyond the classroom. Connecting with the wider community can create a sense of shared purpose and creative connection, while helping pupils develop a sense of pride.
External initiatives and projects can introduce pupils to new activities, places, people and experiences beyond their usual school environment. They can also give pupils’ work a wider audience, while helping to develop their skills and creative identity.
Have fun taking inspiration from the creative stimuli offered by larger projects, adapting them to your setting and following your own creative journeys.
Please note, AccessArt has no affiliation with any of the externally run programmes and competitions suggested below.
Why choose activities from the Be Part of a Larger Project Pathway?
The ideas on this page are designed to help you think about how you can create an exciting enrichment offer in your school.
The ideas in this pathway help schools meet the DfE Enrichment Benchmark:
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An enrichment offer that works in partnership
How might these activities be embedded into your enrichment offer?
In particular, the activities and approaches outlined on this journey are suited to:
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Clubs during lunch or after school
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Smaller group activities within the curriculum
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Activities within or beyond the curriculum, led by visiting artist educators chosen by pupils
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Gallery visits
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Art weeks
Tips!
AccessArt resources can be used to support all larger projects. Explore our index page to find resources relating to materials, skills, disciplines, themes and movements.
Take advantage of as much free CPD offered through projects as you can. It can help build your confidence as a teacher and ensure these experiences have a meaningful and lasting impact on your teaching.
When entering competitions, pupils can sometimes feel pressure to focus on the final outcome. Try to keep the emphasis on the creative journey, giving pupils the time and space to take risks, explore possibilities and follow their own ideas.
Develop projects in your community
Inspiration for larger projects can come from local artists, partnerships with galleries, or even school-wide initiatives. Community-focused projects can help pupils connect with the people and places around them, build confidence and feel part of something bigger.
Find inspiration for big projects in your local area
Explore the resources below to see how you can develop your own self-initiated projects within your school and local community.
Modelled on the Take One Picture programme, Inspire partnered teachers with the Fitzwilliam Museum to learn how to engage with objects, share ideas and take their experiences back into the classroom. Use this project as inspiration, finding a local painting or object to explore and adapting the approach to your own setting.
See how teacher Natalie Deane organised Our Creative Community, a pupil-led project exploring the work of local artists. View the project with an open mind, considering how you might adapt (including scaling-up or down) the approach to your setting and introduce pupils to artists in your local area.
Art weeks provide an opportunity for schools to create energy and a sense of celebration. They bring the whole school together, giving pupils the opportunity to try new materials and activities with the benefits of being off timetable. Choose an Art Week from the AccessArt Art Week collection.
The Big Draw Festival brings together thousands of drawing events, connecting people of all ages with schools, community spaces, artists and other professionals across the globe. Take part in the festival by running your own Big Draw event in school using AccessArt resources, or by joining an event near you.
Great Big Green Week is the UK’s biggest celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. Join the celebration using their free resources alongside AccessArt activities to make art inspired by local places, nature and climate.
International Dot Day is a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration, inspired by Peter H. Reynolds’ book The Dot. Encourage pupils to trust in their creativity, starting with a simple mark. Use AccessArt resources as a starting point to inspire a day of creating marks.
Resources
Inspire
Our Creative Community
AccessArt Art Weeks
The big draw Festival
Great Big Green Week
International Dot Day
Take part in programmes
Join a nationwide programme that gives pupils the opportunity to take part in shared experiences across classes, year groups, schools and even the whole country. Connect with galleries, collections and cultural spaces, while raising the visibility of creativity within your school and celebrating creative journeys and outcomes.
In particular, these programmes can be a great way to build teacher confidence, with specialist organisations often providing CPD and guidance alongside the programme.
Find a programme that feels right for your school
Take One Picture is the National Gallery’s free programme for primary schools, designed to inspire a lifelong love of art and learning. Each year, one picture from the collection is chosen to inspire cross-curricular work in primary classrooms. Take part in CPD, develop a project, visit the gallery, submit your work and celebrate your pupils’ projects.
See how an AccessArt resource was used to inspire a winning submission to the National Gallery here, and consider how AccessArt resources might inspire your own entry.
Crafts Council: Craft School is a free nationwide programme encouraging EYFS, primary and secondary pupils to learn through hands-on making. Through resources, online CPD and Educator Forums, Craft School encourages pupils to explore materials, follow their own ideas and develop their voices as makers.
Accredited by Arts Council England, the Artsmark Award is a two-year programme that supports teachers to reflect on, plan and develop arts provision in their educational setting. With long-term support to embed quality arts experiences across the school, the programme can have a lasting impact on teaching and learning.
Articulation is a national programme for young people aged 16–19, using art as a springboard to develop oracy, independent research and presentation skills. From attending Discovery Days and entering the Articulation Prize to taking part in challenges, there are a range of ways for pupils to get involved.
Arts Award provides the opportunity for pupils under the age of 25 to gain a recognised qualification through the creative learning already happening in your school or college. Sign your school up as a centre and find out how pupils can achieve Explore, Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards.
Resources
National Gallery: Take One Picture
Crafts Council: Craft School
ArtsMark
Articulation
Arts Award
Enter a competition
Taking part in competitions can be a great way to motivate pupils to share their individual creative voices. It can create a sense of pride and give pupils the opportunity to experience what it feels like to be an exhibiting artist.
Give pupils the opportunity to share their ideas
The Fourth Plinth School Awards invites pupils between ages 5-15 to produce a work of art inspired by the contemporary art commissions for Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth. (Open to London schools only.)
The Young Artists’ Summer Show is a free, open-submission exhibition for young artists aged 4–18 studying in the UK. With no set theme, pupils are invited to submit any piece of artwork they are proud of. Collaborative pieces made by more than one pupil, a whole class, year group or even the whole school are also welcome, making it a great opportunity to create something together.
SPoKE is an art historical documentary film competition designed to challenge pupils to link the visual and the verbal in an imaginative and creative manner, underpinned by solid academic research. Any one work (painting, sculpture, drawing, print, multimedia, conceptual or performance art, building) may be chosen as the subject of the film.
Resources
Fourth Plinth School Awards
Young Artists' Summer Show
Spoke
