GLOW Newcastle – putting a shine on culture in the curriculum
It might sound like a Christmas attraction but GLOW Newcastle is the name of a new charity lighting a path to cultural opportunity for the city’s children and young people.
Its benefits should therefore be felt all year round.
The charity has grown out of the Newcastle Cultural Education Partnership, one of many LCEPs (substitute ‘Local’ for Newcastle) established around the country by Arts Council England (ACE) and the Department for Education.
The idea, as articulated by ACE in 2015, was to “support children and young people to fulfil their creative potential and access high-quality cultural experiences where they live, where they go to school and where they spend their free time”.
Newcastle headteachers were quick to seize on the idea which is to be ramped up with the establishment of this new body with charitable status and a new director, Bex Mather.
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It pursues its aims by facilitating artist residencies in schools, running professional development for teachers and artists, and supporting young people to access careers in arts and culture.
Chaired by Anna Disley, executive director of New Writing North, it is funded by ACE (via Tyne and Wear Archives & Museums), North East Combined Authority, Newcastle City Council and Tyne and Wear Community Foundation.
The GLOW Newcastle official launch took place at Live Theatre with a keynote speech by Catherine McKinnell, minister for school standards and MP for Newcastle North.
“I think we all agree how important culture is to a child’s development and to the life of our city,” she said.
“As minister for school standards I’m determined that we support children’s access to arts and culture.
“It is our mission as a new government to break down the barriers to opportunity and to give every child the best start in life.
“That means building a country where children come first and where every child can attend a school with high and rising standards and also a really rich and broad curriculum.”
She talked about the independent review of the national curriculum and statutory assessment ordered by the Government and now taking place.
Ms McKinnell recalled her experiences at Sacred Heart Catholic High School in Fenham where she played the flute in the school orchestra and performed in the musical Guys and Dolls.
“Those experiences were such a valuable part of my education. They were rigorous and technically challenging but they gave me confidence that I took into every other part of my life.
“That’s the power of a great school and a really broad and rich education and that’s what we want for every child in every community, whatever background they come from.
“We want to make sure every child feels they belong and can be part of a vibrant cultural community.”
The hoped for outcome of the review would be a curriculum built on “really strong foundations of reading, writing and maths” but also with opportunities to develop creative thinking and listening skills.
“We want broad curriculums so young people don’t miss out on music, art, sport and drama as well as all the important vocational subjects they might have access to.”
And the minister added: “We know it’s important that young people get the skills and access needed to join an industry that generated £124.6 billion to the economy in 2022.”
However, improving education could not be solved by the Government, schools, local authorities or charities working alone. A partnership approach was called for.
Councillor Lesley Storey, cabinet member for children and young people on Newcastle City Council, said: “I want you to know there’s an absolute will and commitment to protect and support and grow the creative and cultural sector in the city.”
She recalled a formative experience, a trip from her school in Felling, Gateshead, to see A Christmas Carol at Newcastle Theatre Royal.
“It was utterly thrilling. I wanted to read Dickens and became obsessed with the workhouse and the debtors’ prison. I became interested in social history. It opened my eyes.
“You can’t underestimate the impact that culture has on an impressionable child. Every child in this city deserves to have access to those experiences.”
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Founding NCEP trustee Rebecca Jackson, head of Cragside Primary School, quoted from EM Forster’s novel, Howards End.
“It explores the theme of connection in many different ways but one of the main ways is the connection between head and heart,” she said.
“For me art and culture education provides that unique opportunity to connect the head and the heart and that’s why I believe it has to be at the centre of all we do in schools.
“This isn’t an extra-curricular activity for the elite. It’s for everybody and has to be built into our primary curriculum.”
Gary Wright, director of school improvement at Prosper Learning Trust, which runs five special schools, spoke about a residency by graffiti artist Dan Walls at Mary Astell Academy in West Denton.
“We’d wanted something that would engage the pupils but it wasn’t all about the art, which was amazing. It was about those pupils working together and realising lots of things about themselves.
“It enhanced all the other subjects. They did a lot of designing. We created a big mural on the wall.
“It’s the first thing they see when they come into school and I’ve heard them talking about it. School is not always great for them but this has been an extremely useful project.”
Bex Mather, who was appointed in February, remembered her mother, as a single parent, working hard to make ends meet but ensuring that each of her four children could take part in one cultural activity outside school.
“Her steadfast commitment to ensuring I could learn to play a musical instrument has had an immeasurable impact on my life.
“We want all children and young people in Newcastle to have opportunities to experience those possibilities, to take creative risks, to explore, to make connections, to sense belonging, to experience themselves in the world in new ways, to learn new skills and to flourish.”
GLOW Newcastle launched its #GlowTogether network at the event, aimed at bringing together individuals and organisations that share its ambitions.
It also featured a Creative Marketplace where attendees could find out about cultural organisations and make connections.