This page summarises key evidence about how schools in Leeds are engaging with arts and culture, drawing on the annual school survey and publicly available data.
It is designed to help cultural organisations, commissioners and schools understand patterns of provision, identify strengths and gaps, and inform strategic action to improve cultural opportunities for all pupils in the city.
Artsmark is the creative quality standard for schools and education providers in England, accredited by Arts Council England. The visualisation below shows the schools in Leeds that have been awarded, or are working towards, the Artsmark award.
This map represents the state-funded schools in each ward that have been awarded Artsmark accreditation. This figure does not include schools that are working towards their award. Lighter colours indicate there are more schools in that ward with Artsmark accreditation.
The visualisation below shows a breakdown of schools in Leeds that provide an Arts Award offering to young people. Arts Award is a suite of arts-based qualifications available to young people aged 25 and under. It is managed by Trinity College London and Arts Council England.
The number of schools in Leeds that offer an Arts Award, by ward. This data includes schools that offered an Arts Award as of 2022/23 academic year. Lighter colours indicate there are more schools that offer an Arts Award in that ward.
The section below begins to explore some of the demographic and regional factors that may influence a school's creative offering for students. This information may give an indication of where organisations could focus their efforts to engage more with schools in underserved regions of Leeds. Many arts providers have a commitment to engage with children and young people from all demographics, and could use this type of data to inform their approach. Learn more about the cultural organisations involved in this study.
The map below shows the schools in Leeds, scaled by the percentage of pupils that are eligible for free school meals. Lighter coloured markers have a higher percentage of eligible students. Hover over the polygons to view more information on each school, such as their Artsmark award status and number of creative subject entries.
This study serves as a pilot for a future phase of work to explore these relationships in more detail. The data presented here is therefore indicative only - read more about how we have processed the data in the section below.
While school type can be broken down into much more granular detail, we have made a decision to group schools in the above broad categories so that we can understand our data better. These buckets are:
Academy & Free Schools: Includes any Academy School, whether it is a converter or sponsor led, and any free school. It also includes University Technical College Leeds, based on DfE guidance. It will not include any special schools as these are kept separate.
Foundation Schools: All Foundation Schools. There are no sub-types of Foundation schools included in DfE data.
Community Schools: All community schools. There are no sub-types of Community Schools included in DfE data.
Voluntary Schools: All voluntary schools, regardless of whether they are voluntary controlled or voluntary aided schools.
Special Schools: All local authority supported Special School, regardless of governance model.
Independent Schools: Any Independent school – regardless of whether they are also Special or Alternative Provision schools.
The data presented on this page comes from a pilot project, delivered by the University of Leeds, that aims to validate the approach to data collection and school engagement for a future phase of work. This page could be developed in future to visualise a richer dataset of schools in Leeds, broken down further by each school's characteristics and cultural engagement.
Improving the accuracy of this dataset will allow for schools, local authorities, and arts organisations to inform their strategy and funding priorities, as well as enabling collaboration with the cultural sector. We therefore encourage anyone with an interest in the sector to reach out and take part in the next phase of work by contacting the project lead, Dr Briony Thomas, b.g.thomas@leeds.ac.uk.
