Running Arts Award with a large group is an ideal way to build a whole-school culture of engagement in the arts. It can help to raise the profile of arts subjects and can offer some cost-benefits. Large groups also offer peer support and encouragement for young people completing their award. Here are some tips and examples to help you get started:
Top Tips:
Support: The more staff you have trained as Arts Award advisers, the more support you can offer your students to make sure they’re logging all their work, meeting the criteria and experiencing a really rich and exciting project. If you have a group of staff who need to be trained take a look at our Group Training Options.
Planning and embedding: The key to successful delivery with large groups lies in the planning. Take time as a team to plan how you’re going to approach each section and how students are going to evidence their work to meet all of the criteria. This will help to ensure you don’t reach the end of the project with gaps in evidence. Consider booking a free support session.
Take the time: Integrate evidencing into activities so it becomes part of the process, but also allocate 10 minutes at the end of each session for students to collate the evidence they have gathered in their logbooks/portfolios. Make use of the free templates available on our adviser hub.
Make the most of talent: Often parents/teaching assistants/lunchtime supervisors/governors and older students have artistic skills and talents they can share with your students. Consider a call out for volunteers in school newsletters or on a school VLE.
Use numbers to your advantage: When working with a large group it may not be possible to support lots of students to achieve different tasks, instead you could plan a group activity but look for ways that young people can personalise their learning within this. Or plan a few group activities and give your students the choice of which to participate in. Build in opportunities for students to take part in feedback discussions and share their work with the group.
Don’t forget the discount: We offer large group discounts on logbooks, and the per head fee to enter young people for Arts Award at all levels.
Assessment support: Working as part of a team of advisers means you can offer each other support throughout the assessment process. Schedule regular catch ups and hold an internal standardisation to make sure everyone is confident and that there’s a consistent approach.
Reflect: If your centre is selected for moderation, meet after the process as a team to discuss what worked well and what changes you might make to your delivery approach in future. Consider developmental feedback from the moderator(s) and any support needs identified through the process. The delivery development template in our School Resource Pack can be used for this.
For more inspiration take a look at how the below centres delivered to large groups:
Our School Resources Pack has more advice on running Arts Award with large groups. Our portfolios page includes templates for delivering all five Arts Award levels, and Arts Award Voice host useful resources on their Bronze, Silver and Gold hubs.
If you are looking to deliver Arts Award to a large group get in touch for support and guidance. You can also request a pre-training support session if you are planning to deliver to a large group to help with your plans.
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