Catherine McKinnell, Member of Parliament for Newcastle North, today visited Brunton First School as part of Artsmark Celebration Week to see first-hand the creative activities pupils have the opportunity to take part in.

Artsmark is the creative quality standard for schools, accredited by Arts Council England, and the Artsmark award recognises the work that schools do to plan, develop and evaluate arts, culture and creativity across the curriculum, with Artsmark Celebration Week running from 7-11 October 2019.

Catherine joined Culture Bridge North East and Arts Council England on a visit to Brunton First School, who were awarded their Gold Artsmark in July 2017, and are currently working towards their second award.

During the visit Headteacher Gill McKay gave a tour of the school and highlighted the creative work that pupils are taught including portrait drawing, mosaics, dance and singing through sign-language.

Catherine said “The work Brunton First School have done to ensure that creativity runs through the heart of their activities is really inspiring.  It was fantastic to see the art, music and dance being enjoying in school, and this has been been recognised in achieving their Gold Artmark Award.”

“The importance the school places on creativity really shone through and it was such a pleasure to spend time with the children and their teachers bringing art and music to life throughout the school today.”