Nursteed Community Primary School in Devizes has retained its prestigious Artsmark award after showing how they encourage pupils to expand their creativity.

Penny Stanley, the school’s literacy and arts co-ordinator, explained: “At Nursteed we try to offer a broad, balanced and vibrant education for all children. The whole staff is committed to the arts as a vital and integral part of the curriculum.

“In developing children’s creativity we hope to inspire and motivate, allow for various forms of communication, and ensure all children receive their entitlement to high quality arts. We believe that the arts contribute to improving standards in all aspects of education and we hope to foster a lifelong love of expression through artistic means.

“What we really hope is to encourage in children a passion for the arts as a form of expression and to enhance self-esteem, and to give them opportunity to take their art education to higher levels because there is no limit to their achievements.

"We also know that the arts can contribute an awful lot to how children view themselves and how they communicate and we often find that success in the arts can then have a knock on effect of improved performance in more ‘academic’ subjects.

"It’s so exciting to see their passion in singing or drawing, their grins when dancing, their confidence growing as they realise they can step up in front of others to perform and it’s infectious…they all want to be a part of that.

“We champion performances of Shakespeare for all children, had an Art in the Park school community event with families making art together as well as viewing their children’s creations, have taken children to Tate Modern with children from another school and run a school cluster choir celebration.

“We are very proud. Our next aim is to maintain the standards and try to offer further opportunities for children to view art and performances in settings outside of the school.”