Playtime in primary schools is so much more than a pause in the school day. When children are given the freedom to play creatively, they build strong relationships, develop their imaginations and learn how to communicate, negotiate and collaborate with one another. Creative play supports positive mental health, giving children the space to feel calm, confident and connected. These unstructured moments are often where children thrive the most. At Art Room , I create living willow tunnels and...

School trips have long been seen as a highlight of the academic year. A day out, a packed lunch, and a coach ride to an exciting destination often feel like a rite of passage of school life. However, with rising travel costs and increasing pressures on school budgets and families, many schools are beginning to question whether large-scale trips always offer the best value, educationally, financially, or emotionally. Increasingly, schools are discovering that bringing specialists into school...

Teaching Art in Primary Schools: Learning by Doing, Talking by Thinking Art lessons in primary schools should be vibrant, thoughtful, and active . At their best, they are spaces where children are creating, questioning, and learning through doing, not sitting passively listening for long periods of time. One of my core beliefs about teaching art is simple: children should be actively making art for the majority of the lesson . Ideally, around 80% of the time  should be spent drawing,...