Michelle Crawford, Year 3 Teacher at West View Primary School in Hartlepool shares with us how they deliver Arts Award Discover with their Year 3 and 4 pupils, how they connect with the local community and the pupils’ families; enabling students to grow artistically and raise funds for the school.
Our journey with Arts Award began in September 2024, following a deliberate and exciting decision to elevate the profile of the arts across our school community. As a large primary school, situated in an area of significant deprivation, we recognise the importance of prioritising creativity and artistic expression within our curriculum. Many of our children have limited access to the arts outside of school, and we are determined to change that.
This commitment to change marked the beginning of an inspiring new chapter - one focused on enriching our pupils' educational experience through a more structured and intentional approach to arts education, ultimately leading towards us delivering Arts Award Discover.
Connecting with the arts in our local community
We soon realised that while creativity already had a presence in our classrooms, there was enormous potential to do more. We wanted to offer our pupils richer, more diverse opportunities to experience the arts in meaningful ways - both inside and outside of the classroom.
This vision extended beyond simply enhancing our art lessons. We sought to connect pupils with the cultural and creative assets in our local area. Our initiatives included:
- Visits to the local art gallery (Hartlepool Art Gallery), where children viewed professional works and participated in engaging workshops led by practising artists.
- Photography sessions at the beach, allowing pupils to explore natural light, texture and composition in a real-world setting.
- In-school workshops with local artists, who brought their practice into the classroom, offering hands-on sessions and insight into their creative processes.
These experiences helped our pupils to see the arts as something living and accessible, something they could actively take part in and even aspire to pursue.
Arts Award Discover
As part of their journey towards achieving Arts Award Discover, our Year 3 and Year 4 pupils embarked on an exciting, beach-themed creative project. Inspired by the beauty and contrast of our local coastline, both year groups took part in a visit to the beach, where they used photography to capture the essence of the sea - its movement, vibrant colours and varied textures (Part A: Discover). Alongside this, they also turned their lenses towards a more thought-provoking subject: the litter and pollution sadly left behind on the shore.
Year 3: from photography to fine art
Back in the classroom, Year 3 pupils used their photographs as a starting point to develop their drawing skills (Part A: Discover). They carefully studied their images, paying attention to detail, pattern, and texture, and created observational sketches. These sketches then evolved into more expressive artworks as pupils explored a range of media - including paint, oil pastels, and soft pastels - to bring their coastal scenes to life.
Year 4: exploring digital art
Year 4 pupils took a more digital approach, using their beach photographs as a foundation for learning the basics of photo editing (Part A: Discover). They experimented with tools to adjust lighting, contrast, and colour saturation, and applied filters to create striking visual effects. Through this, they discovered how digital technology can be used to enhance and transform images, opening up new avenues for artistic expression.
Together, these projects nurtured a deeper appreciation of both traditional and contemporary art forms, while encouraging pupils to find inspiration in the world around them.
Inspiration from local artists
While working towards Part B (Find out), our approach was to concentrate specifically on artists who have a strong connection to our local area. In Year 3, the students researched and studied the life and artwork of Robert Leslie Howey (1900 - 1981). Howey was a renowned artist known for drawing inspiration from the natural beauty of the Yorkshire coastline. His body of work includes many exquisite paintings that vividly capture the essence of our local beach and its surrounding coastal landscapes, highlighting the unique atmosphere and scenery of the region.
In Year 4, the focus shifted to Diane Watson, a contemporary artist who engages with environmental issues through her creative practice. Watson uses plastic debris collected from beaches and coastal areas as the primary material in her art. By repurposing this waste, her work aims to raise public awareness about the critical problem of plastic pollution in our environment. The children were fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in an art workshop led by Diane, who came into the school to share her time, creativity, and artistic expertise with them.
Showcasing talent
As we approached the completion of Part C (Share), we wanted to celebrate the remarkable creativity and dedication of our pupils. To do this, we proudly shared their artwork with the rest of the school and the wider community by hosting a dedicated art exhibition in our school hall. We transformed the space into a gallery-style venue, with each pupil’s final piece professionally mounted and framed - giving the exhibition a polished and authentic feel.
To achieve this, we partnered with a company that specialises in helping schools stage professional-quality exhibitions of their pupils’ framed artwork. The service comes at no cost to the school - there is no upfront financial commitment required. Instead, the company operates on a profit-sharing model, taking a percentage from the sale of each framed piece of artwork.
During the school day, classes were invited to visit the exhibition, giving pupils the chance to admire each other’s work and be inspired by the diversity of ideas, styles, and techniques on display. The children also shared which parts of their Arts Award Discover they enjoyed the most.
In the afternoon, we welcomed parents, carers and families into the exhibition. Visitors were not only able to view the artwork but were also given the opportunity to purchase their child’s framed piece. This added an extra sense of pride and ownership for the pupils and helped raise valuable funds to support future arts initiatives in our school.
As part of the exhibition, we also showcased the children’s individual art portfolios. This provided a valuable opportunity for the pupils to share not only their completed final pieces, but also to reflect on and articulate the creative journey they undertook to get there. Through their portfolios, they were able to explain the different stages of their work, discuss the techniques they explored, and express which aspects of the process they found most enjoyable and rewarding.
The event was a resounding success - an uplifting celebration of creativity, community and the transformative power of the arts in education. One parent said, ‘We really enjoyed the exhibition. It was well organised, and the art looked amazing and professional. You could see how hard the children had worked to create their art. It was lovely to see how proud my son and other children were seeing their work displayed. So many smiling faces!’
Continuing our creative journey
As we look forward to the next academic year, we are excited to continue building on the strong foundation we’ve established through our Arts Award programme. Our incoming Year 3 pupils will begin their own Arts Award Discover journey, engaging with new creative themes and hands-on experiences that will spark their imagination and help develop their artistic voice.
Meanwhile, our current Year 4 children will progress to the next stage by embarking on Arts Award Explore as they move into Year 5. This next level will challenge them to delve deeper into different art forms, investigate the work of artists and arts organisations and further develop their ability to reflect on their own creative process.
We can’t wait to see how our pupils grow through these experiences and where this next phase of our art journey will lead us. With each step, we’re continuing to nurture a culture of creativity, curiosity and artistic confidence across our school.
Photo by West View Primary School
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