We are delighted to be able to tell you that Newminster and Chantry Middle Schools have been 2 of the 4 schools in Northumberland to be awarded the prestigious Platinum Arts Mark, accredited by Arts Council England. A huge thank you to Ms Jones and all the staff who have worked so hard to provide the opportunities for our students. It goes without saying that the engagement, enthusiasm and commitment of the students is what allows all of the Creative Arts events to be such a success and continue to go from strength to strength.
âThis is what Artsmark said about Newminster:
The panel were impressed by your school’s range of provision, the wealth of ‘popular’ as well as classical arts opportunities, the very clear management and development of provision and the focus on evidencing inclusion and quality. It is clear that the school is deeply committed to the arts, both in terms of their intrinsic value and in terms of the wider benefits to the wellbeing, confidence and soft skills of pupils that the arts can bring. The panel recognised how your school has used your Artsmark journey to strengthen your collaboration with other schools, the degree of focus on understanding impact and effect, and the willingness to share and debate that knowledge with a range of local schools.
Future development might focus on developing your CPD offer more widely, sharing and disseminating best practice further afield and using pupils as ambassadors for CPD. The panel looks forward to seeing how you continue to develop your leadership role and advocacy for arts and culture with other schools.
As a Platinum Artsmark school Arts Council England celebrates your commitment to arts and cultural education at a governing body level, the opportunities established across your provision and the leadership you are demonstrating in this area. Your children and young people are offered equal opportunity to influence, lead, experience and evaluate a diverse range of high-quality arts and cultural activities across a broad range of media and you are able to contribute to development opportunities in these areas for both your own staff and others. You have strong partnerships with arts and cultural organisations and can evidence the positive impact of this collaboration. Your children and young people have an opportunity to continually develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of arts and culture and you are working to further develop the leadership role you have established.
Lee, Cameron, Alfie and Lewis handed over a hand written letter to County Councillor D. Bawn about their concerns with Morpeth’s skatepark. He said he would take this to the next town council meeting. Well done boys! 
The Keyâs innovative project invited the student voice group to embark on their own enterprising projects through the creation of various products including âMerchandise of Morpethâ and âSugar Crushâ sweets. The student voice worked together to think, plan, do and review their very own projects with the support of trained Key Facilitators every Friday during DLE.
