FAQs

Before you start your application, the contents page of the 'How to apply' document should help direct you to the answers to most of your Artsmark related questions:

Available here: How to Apply document

Meeting criteria in Part 1

What is my DfE number?

Part 1 - 2. Curriculum Provision

Part 1 - 4. Extra curricular arts opportunities

Part 5 - Arts Partnerships

Part 2

What will Artsmark be from September 2011?

Who can apply?

How long does the award last for?

What is the Artsmark application process and criteria?

How will the assessment and moderation process work?

What else do I need to know about the Artsmark re-launch?

If you're an arts organisation/company/artist...

Supervising Artsmark status

Your question not answered here?

Meeting criteria in Part 1

Please note that the online form will check criteria against all key stages at the end of Part 1. Therefore, if you DO NOT offer a key stage listed on the form you can disregard the error message and proceed to Part 2.

What is my DfE number?

To login to the online application form you will need your DfE number. This is a seven digit number given to your setting which can be found on edubase. If you do not know your DfE number you will be able to find this by inputting your setting name into edubase. The DfE number of an establishment is the combination of the LA number and the Establishment number, both located in the summary tab of a record eg. for Myton School, Warwick this is; LA: 937 Warwickshire Establishment No: 5403. (NB: It is not your exam centre number and the system will only accept digits so do not include any punctuation)

Part 1 - 2. Curriculum Provision

• If at Key Stage 5 there are 3 accredited artforms or they do not have the minimum participation rate, is it ok if pupils have access to the subjects through out of hours, working with professionals etc or do the accredited options and criteria have to be reached?  No, you need minimum number of accredited options and min participation, they could apply for an exemption if there is a particular reason why they can’t do this that is beyond their control.

• Does BTec Performing Arts count as an accredited artform and does the Creative and Media Diploma (I assume the list in the guidance is an example of some?) Yes, anything accredited and arts based counts
• Also does Hairdresser and Nail and Beauty count at all within artforms (eg Nail Art?) No,  In support you could say there is nothing wrong with including it at key stage 4 or 5 if they wanted to but this would have to be as well as the 3 or 4 minimum not instead of.

Part 1 - 4. Extra curricular arts opportunities

• Is it ok to have an extra curricular arts opportunity that is accessible to all but has a limited number of places - eg 10 during the year? Eg is offering acceptable this would be fine as long as its first come first served rather than selective

Part 5 - Arts Partnerships

With the Arts Partnership - does every child have to access it or does it just have to be offered to all? I know that with the old form, there was a little flexibility for small schools around the Partnerships and extra curricular - will this continue to be the case? generally no, again if there is a particular reason why they cannot offer this that is beyond their control they could apply for an exemption but this could not be a general rule.

Part 2

• In Part 2 - how far back can you use examples from? The last 2-3 years unless otherwise stated as long as they are examples that reflect current policy and practice, ideally examples would be from this or last academic year.

What will Artsmark be from September 2011?

• the national programme that enables schools, further education colleges and youth justice settings to evaluate, celebrate and strengthen a quality arts offer.
• a new focus of Artsmark is to support Arts Council England to achieve its goal of ensuring every child and young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts.

It will deliver this by providing:

• a structured and in depth online auditing tool
• rigorous criteria against which applicants can benchmark their provision
• the support of Artsmark assessors/teachers during the assessment process
• the creation of a network of organisations committed to high quality, broad and sustainable arts provision.

Who can apply?

• all schools in England (including Special schools and PRUs).

• FE colleges and youth justice settings (YOI/YOT) are now eligible to apply for Artsmark and bespoke forms have been designed for these settings.

How long does the award last for?

3 years - those awarded an Artsmark in Rounds 8 and 9 will need to reapply this year to keep it updated post July 2012. Anyone whos awarded expires in 2012 will need to reapply before the closing date of 17:00 12 January 2012.

What is the Artsmark application process and criteria?

The new Artsmark will be an online, two-part application.

• the criteria have been streamlined so there are now only two award distinctions; Artsmark and Artsmark Gold. Artsmark is now the equivalent of the old Artsmark Silver.
• part one is a quantitative audit of provision, such as curriculum hours, with a national benchmark set at roughly the old Artsmark Silver level, eg. all schools /  settings must now provide a minimum of 12% curriculum time devoted to the arts to be eligible.
• part two will focus on the quality and impact of arts provision in educational settings. All applicants will be required to answer a set of mandatory questions, those applying for Artrmark Gold will answer some extra questions (NB. The YOT/YOI part two application has less questions and different criteria for Artsmark and Artsmark Gold).

• Artsmark will now offer more development advice for participating settings before, during and after an application.

How will the assessment and moderation process work?

• current Artsmark Gold Schools will be invited to apply to be an Artsmark Assessor school; they will nominate one or more teachers to take on a peer assessment role for four other schools.
• we will recruit the remaining assessor positions from the wider arts and education sectors.
• assessors will be trained at regional day sessions across the country. We aim to have assessors recruited by November 2011.
• the option to offer accredited assessor and moderator training is currently being explored with CCSkills. If feasible, the training would be ready for September 2012.
• in year one of the new Artsmark 80% of applications will be moderated to ensure a fair and rigorous approach, this will reduce to 50% applications thereafter. Moderators will be arts education professionals such as local authority advisers, SSAT arts specialists, Arts Award Moderators etc.

What else do I need to know about the Artsmark re-launch?

• the new scheme and online application portal will launch on 1 September 2011 and there is a planned marketing campaign to promote the re-launch. Also exploring a possible joint launch with the results of the Henley Review of Cultural Education.
• the first submission date for Artsmark applications is Thursday 12 January 2012, allowing schools more time to access training and familiarise themselves with the revised criteria and application process.
• there will only be one application deadline in Round 12, we may start running two application deadlines from Round 13.

If you're an arts organisation/company/artist...

...and would like to feature on the 'LINKS' page - contact us using the tab to the left. We'll want to know what you do and your experience of working with Children and Young people in formal/informal settings.

upervising Artsmark status

The Artsmark team do not have the capacity to monitor the Artsmark status of all settings in detail and cannot deal with complaints about an Artsmark settings’ arts provision. However the following rules do apply to a setting during the three years that they hold Artsmark status.

• Settings will be surveyed once a year asking them to certify that standards are the same and the statements they made in their application have not changed in that time, this certification will be made by the headteacher/lead worker. If a response to the survey is not received, then the school/setting will be removed from the list of Artsmark organisations and an official letter sent to them informing them they can no longer use the logo.
• In addition to this self-certification the use that is made of the Artsmark logos will be monitored and we reserve the right to inspect the use that is being made by a school/setting on any day on which that school/setting is open, at three days notice.
• All schools/settings holding Artsmark status will be expected to abide by the logo use guidelines found on www.artsmark.org.uk. Any schools/setting found misusing the logo may have their Artsmark status revoked.
• Artsmark certificates sent to schools/settings will clearly state the year that a schools will need to reapply to continue to hold their Artsmark status.
• In the year in which a school/setting needs to reapply they will be contacted by email and letter confirming that they need to reapply in this round to continue to hold their Artsmark status. Any schools who do not then reapply will be informed by letter that their status has lapsed and that they should remove any logos from their website, letterhead and other school publicity materials.
• Continuing to the use the logo after Artsmark status has lapsed may result in that schools or setting not being able to reapply for Artsmark status in the future.

Your question not answered here?

If you have a technical enquiry please contact our enquiries team on 0845 300 6200 during normal office hours. For other questions please use the form below. (we will endeavour to pick these up in 3 working days - please provide the name of your school when posting)