The Arts subjects have always been central to learning at Victoria, because they are so accessible to all pupils through the senses.

Victoria School has maintained ‘Artsmark Gold’ status for over 10 years, and has gained a reputation for outstanding achievements in the Arts. We moved from strength to strength when we became a government funded Specialist Arts College in 2007, which enabled us to improve our Arts provision and to embed the Arts across the whole curriculum. We then became a Creative Partnerships 'Change School' in 2009, where we further developed our approach to the Arts by extending learning to the outdoor spaces of our school. More recently we became an Arts Hub School as part of the West Midlands network 'Arts Connect'.

As an Arts College we established strong community links with local artists and arts organisations, neighbouring schools, and the wider community, which we have continued to build upon with the help of additional fundraising. Our main regular sponsor is EMI Music Sound Foundation.

Pupils have regular opportunities to work with professional Artists and Arts organisations, within and outside of school. Pupils also have regular opportunities to celebrate their achievements in the Arts through performances, productions, concerts, displays and exhibitions, both within school and in the wider community.

There is a good choice of weekly lunchtime Arts Clubs for pupils to attend; School Choir, Media Club, Dance Club, Recorder Club, Signing Choir, and Library Story Club.

We have a bespoke subject curriculum on offer tailored to the development of pupils at each key stage. In addition, every Spring term each key stage works together on a cross -curricular whole school cultural topic, focusing on a continent of the World; recent topics are Scandinavia, Africa, Australasia, The Mediterranean and South Asia. The resulting work is often inspirational, and often leads us to make links with new Artists and to discover new approaches.

We have excellent Arts facilities at Victoria:

• A purpose built Music room with fantastic acoustics, equipped with a grand piano, high quality audio-visual equipment, and a wide range of instruments.
• A ‘Sensory Drama room’ with full black out facilities, stage lighting, projector and screen, shadow puppet screen, sound system, and ‘optibeam’.
• A Drama Studio.
• Quality sound systems and stage lighting in the drama studio and main Hall.

Raza Khan is our Arts Lead teacher. Ben Cradock is an HLTA with a specific role of supporting the use of the Arts spaces.

Our new Music Room from the outside.	Inside our well-equipped Music Room.

Accreditation in the Arts

The Arts Awards are delivered at all three levels:

• Discover
• Explore
• Bronze