We believe every child and young person is entitled to a broad range of arts and cultural experiences that can lead to a life-long engagement with creativity and the arts. The Cultural Rucksack creates these opportunities by working with Nottingham's schools. We’re drawing together inspirational arts experiences, devised jointly by teachers and creative organisations to align with the school curriculum and meet the needs, aspirations and interests of young people. Celebrating the rich heritage and cultural diversity of Nottingham is also an important element of the Cultural Rucksack, ensuring young people grow up feeling connected to and valued by their city.
Scroll down to read more about signing up to the Cultural Rucksack, the benefits and latest news.
We invite all Nottingham Primary and Secondary City schools to sign up to the Cultural Rucksack and undertake the commitment (below). The benefits include:
You will receive:
You will access:
You will contribute to:
Our CultureMeets provide the opportunity for both teachers and providers from across the city to meet. Providers will highlight their learning offers and schools can share best practice. It's also where teachers can contribute to the development of the Cultural Rucksack, hear arts updates and where we can match up peer support for those wanting to develop their arts and cultural
curriculum. You can watch past CultureMeets further down the page.
Future CultureMeets
CultureMeets for Secondaries take place 3.30pm-5pm, 5 October, 9 March 2023 and 16 May 2023. Book your free place.
CultureMeets for Primaries take place 3.30pm-5pm, 22 September, 1 March 2023 and 8 May 2023 Book your free place
1. We are working towards embedding arts, creativity and cultural education within and across our curriculum.
2. We actively promote a broad range of creative experiences for all our pupils. This is part of our school ethos and is reflected in our vision and values statements.
3. Our curriculum reflects the rich diversity and cultural heritage of Nottingham.
4. We use our arts and cultural programme to strengthen connections to our local community.
5. We value the opportunity to work with a range of external arts and cultural providers and professionals across the City and will develop an in-depth engagement with at least one provider over a period of time.
6. We will engage with the arts and cultural support hubs across the City.
7. We have identified a staff member/team to take the lead on our arts and cultural curriculum and to be an ambassador(s) for culture and the arts throughout the school.
8. Staff have access to professional development opportunities to support arts and cultural teaching and provision.
9. We provide the opportunity for our pupils to reflect on their arts, culture and creativity experiences to influence future planning.
10. We actively share our commitment to arts and cultural education to our pupils and wider school community.
1. We have identified a clear ‘core’ offer, available to schools on a consistent basis, that allows teachers to plan in advance and integrate the offer into their curriculum. Please add your offer to the form.
2. We have identified a staff member/team who will lead our work and communication with schools.
3. We work collaboratively with other providers to share knowledge and highlight arts and cultural opportunities for Nottingham schools, including offers that complement our own.
4. We will explore and develop longer-term partnerships with schools to support progression in teaching for creativity and the arts and cultural curriculum.
5. We will work with schools to support professional development of staff in both the education and arts and cultural sectors.
6. Where appropriate we will highlight employment opportunities and pathways into the Creative Industries when working with pupils.
7. We are a member of the ChalleNGe Operations Group and will provide ChalleNGe with regular updates on our offers for schools.
8. We will ensure that our entry onto Nottingham’s Cultural Map is up to date.
9. We explore the opportunities available through the Artsmark Partnership Programme
Much of the work over the last few months has focused on highlighting good practice in our schools and developing a range of Art and Design Curriculum Ladders. The Ladders have been developed from a variety of sources and provide a number of options to enhance your own work in this field. Exemplar Curriculum Ladders will be available here soon. Work will also begin on developing and sharing Curriculum Ladders for Dance and Music.
In recent Primary CultureMeets we have had presentations from Researching Arts in Primary Schools, who are creating 40 case studies around arts and culture in schools, as well as inputs from both Mellers Primary and Brocklewood Primary. We will be adding a number of short articles to this website shortly covering what an Arts Rich school looks like, along with information on running educational visits.
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