Imagine If... 2024
Imagine If... every young person in the North East had a childhood rich in cultural capital.
Download PowerPoint presentations from the Conference
Main Room slides (PPTX, 53 MB) - Morning speakers and Workshop 4
"A sense of place: travelling further afield, experiencing new things, and understanding our community’s place in the wider region."
Hall 1 slides (PPTX, 23 MB) - Workshop 3
"Local pride: learning about the rich history of our local area and the role we play in it."
Large Clore slides (PPTX, 16 MB) - Workshop 2
"Empowering pupils to take ownership of their own learning."
Small Clore slides (PPTX, 13 MB) - Workshop 1
"Broadening horizons: equipping children and their families with the knowledge and confidence to make return visits to cultural venues."
Schedule - 20 November 2024
Throughout the day
Add your thoughts/key takeaways/pledges to our live art installation with artists Nicola Lynch and Sally Southern.
9.30am - Arrival and registration
9.50am - Welcome, introductions and housekeeping
Mel Burgess, Programme Manager – Regional Cultural Learning, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
10am - Setting the scene: why cultural capital is especially important for the North East's young people
Mayor Kim McGuinness, North East Combined Authority
Our keynote speech will outline why it is so essential to build cultural capital for children and young people in our region:
- What challenges are they facing?
- What is it like to grow up here?
- How can engagement in arts and cultural opportunities be transformative, creating long-term impact on life chances?
10.20am - Building Cultural Capital In All Learners
Louise Quinn, North East Learning Trust and Sarah Stock, NEAT Academy Trust
Led by two Research Schools in the North East, this session will team theory with practical exemplification, focusing on the importance of cultural capital as part of every child's whole school experience, irrespective of background.
Looking at examples across the phases and from two different trusts, we will consider how to weave opportunities for cultural capital seamlessly into the curriculum offer through ambitious subject curricular, the creation of exciting - and essential - extra-curricular experiences and through wider school strategies, such as approaches to reading and language.
11.05am - Cultural Match: supporting Early Career Teachers to build cultural capital
Rachel Adam and Sarah Hudson
Learn about Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' Cultural Match programme, which has seen early career teachers and their mentors from 12 schools each working in partnership with a cultural organisation to build pupils’ cultural capital over the course of the last year.
How did we get from new teachers who didn't know how to lead an out-of-school visit, to whole-school exhibitions and rap videos filmed on Hadrian's Wall?
11.25am - Break
11.40am - Workshops led by the Cultural Match 2023-24 teachers (session 1)
Themed practical workshops:
- Broadening horizons: equipping children and their families with the knowledge and confidence to make return visits to cultural venues
- Empowering pupils to take ownership of their learning
- Local pride: learning about the rich history of our local area and the role we play in it
- A sense of place: travelling further afield, experiencing new things and understanding our community's place in the wider region.
1.10pm - Lunch
2pm - Workshops led by the Cultural Match 2023-24 teachers (session 2)
Themed practical workshops:
- Broadening horizons: equipping children and their families with the knowledge and confidence to make return visits to cultural venues
- Empowering pupils to take ownership of their learning
- Local pride: learning about the rich history of our local area and the role we play in it
- A sense of place: travelling further afield, experiencing new things and understanding our community's place in the wider region.
3.30pm - Plenary/wrapping up activity
Add the finishing touches to Nicola and Sally’s live art installation and join us as we use it as a starting point for creating a future action plan to break down barriers to children and young people increasing their cultural capital.
3.50pm - Close
Workshop details
Workshop 1 – small Clore room, ground floor
Broadening horizons: equipping children and their families with the knowledge and confidence to make return visits to cultural venues.
Shiremoor Primary School, North Tyneside, took the entire school to the Great North Museum: Hancock and then created a school museum for parents to visit. Find out the impact this had on their confidence and on family holiday activities.
Chillingham Road Primary School, Newcastle, used public transport to visit a range of cultural venues in Tyneside. Explore how using the bus, metro or ferry keeps transport costs down and adds value to an out-of-school visit by teaching life skills.
Kenton Bar Primary School, Newcastle, discovered that very few of their pupils had visited an art gallery. Hear how visiting the Laing Art Gallery provided inspiration and context for learning and sparked the creation of an in-school timeline exhibition, and have a go at making your own clay models.
Workshop 2 – large Clore room, ground floor
Empowering pupils to take ownership of their own learning
Mary Astell Academy, a pupil referral unit in Newcastle, gave their inreach students agency over their own learning. Hear the lasting impact this had on individuals, and try your hand at creating photo montages celebrating the North East with artist Tommy Anderson, who worked with the school.
Denbigh Community Primary School, North Tyneside, handed project planning over to their pupil council. Learn techniques to make simple clay pots from Greece and West Africa whilst learning about how pupils led the design of the school’s 'Cultures from Around the World' project.
Workshop 3 – Hall 1, first floor
Local pride: learning about the rich history of our local area and the role we play in it
George Stephenson High School, North Tyneside, explored the architecture of Tyneside and were inspired by brutalist architecture to create 3D and photographic art pieces. Create your own sculpture and hear about the impact of the project on students’ GCSE choices.
Western Primary School, North Tyneside, used historic photographs of Wallsend to spark pupils’ imaginations. Take part in an activity to explore these images, and hear how they inspired a music-focused local history topic which is now embedded in the school’s curriculum.
Tweedmouth West First School, Northumberland, used the mainline railway next to their school as inspiration for their project. Hear from Stephenson Steam Railway about how a train-themed visit led to the development of printmaking skills, and make your own unique print to take home.
Workshop 4 – main conference space, first floor
A sense of place: travelling further afield, experiencing new things, and understanding our community’s place in the wider region
Allendale Primary School, Northumberland, travelled along Hadrian’s Wall to Arbeia to gather inspiration for their own song showcasing their understanding of the Roman’s role in the North East. Watch the Rockin’ Romans music video and try planning your own multi-artform visit, understanding how to draw out curriculum links and build in the maximum potential for increasing cultural capital.
Greenhead and Henshaw Primary Schools, Northumberland, travelled to the Laing Art Gallery and explored landmarks along the Tyne Valley, and the shift from rural to urban. Create a 3D paper diorama and discover how this supports children’s sense of place and understanding of their local area.
The Great North Museum: Hancock’s galleries provide a wealth of opportunities to explore place and identity. Work with objects from the Hadrian’s Wall gallery to understand how artefacts unlock stories, and design an amulet using symbolism.
Speaker biographies
Kim McGuinness
Kim McGuinness is the first North East mayor. She was elected on a manifesto dedicated to creating the infrastructure of opportunity, with a plan to end child poverty and create local, well-paid jobs across the region.
As Mayor, Kim has committed to creating a North East that goes beyond net zero with climate change policies that change lives, where there is a good home for everyone, whether you rent or own and a well-paid job enjoyed by a skilled workforce backed by strong trade unions.
Kim’s economic plan for the North East will be based on three key strands:
- Improving the foundational economy
- Delivering on the green jobs revolution
- Making regional pride a key economic driver with investment in arts and music, culture and sport.
The Mayor is working to introduce the greenest public transport network in the UK, built around her commitment to a better bus network. In her manifesto she set out a vision for public transport that is safe, reliable, affordable – and publicly owned.
Prior to becoming mayor, Kim was Police and Crime Commissioner for the Northumbria force area. She made crime prevention and neighbourhood support a key feature of her strategic policing plan Fighting Poverty, Fighting Crime and has invested in youth services as a way of improving life chances for all.
As PCC, Kim oversaw the creation of the region’s first Violence Reduction Unit which saw investment in local Sure Start-style services as a way of supporting families and young people away from desperation and crime.
Kim has led locally on efforts to tackle Violence against Women and Girls, including her flagship domestic abuse policy of putting DA specialist into police call centres.
Louise Quinn
An experienced school leader, Louise holds a dual position of Director of Shotton Hall Research School and a member of the North East Learning Trust’s school improvement team. Louise is passionate about evidence-informed school improvement and supported Ashington Academy as a deputy head to move from ‘special measures’ (2015) to ‘good’ (2022).
Now, Ashington Academy is one of the top 3 performing schools in the region and has achieved much recognition for closing the PP gap. Through her work in the Research School, Louise has worked as the EEF’s Secondary Literacy Lead.
She also works to support the regions of Hartlepool and Middlesbrough in their teaching of reading and use of reading interventions. Her areas of research interest include cognitive science, literacy, reading, Pupil Premium and the design of bespoke secondary reading interventions.
Sarah Stock
Based in the North East, Sarah has worked as a qualified teacher and school leader for over 25 years. During this time, she has worked predominantly within communities with high levels of deprivation.
Sarah is currently Director of Newcastle Research School and works as a primary school improvement lead within the trust as well as supporting schools and strategic partners across the region. Sarah is a primary specialist and has worked particularly around curriculum design, teaching and learning and Early Years.
Rachel Adam
Rachel is a mentor and consultant in the cultural sector. She worked with Sarah Hudson on Cultural Match 2023/24 and led the peer learning element of the project. The peer learning sessions enabled early career teachers and their in-school mentors to explore the concept of cultural capital, reflect and share learning from their Cultural Match projects and build connections with other schools.
In her consultancy work with clients regionally and nationally, Rachel draws on rich learning from a variety of roles including Director Museums Northumberland bait, the Creative People and Places programme in Northumberland; Director of Juice, Newcastle Gateshead’s Festival for Children and Young People; Head of Development at The Glasshouse (formerly Sage Gateshead). She also brings board experience and is Vice-Chair of Queen’s Hall Arts.
Sarah Hudson
Sarah has worked in the Arts and Culture sector for over 25 years. Starting her career off working in Arts Development for Local Authorities and then moving into a freelance portfolio career. She has worked with many organisations directly including many schools, Arts Council England, Dance City, Helix Arts, Museums Northumberland, Northumberland County Council, November Club, TWAM, and many more in partnership.
She has also worked with talented local, national and international artists in her work. Sarah works across all art forms producing and managing projects working on areas such as fundraising and bid writing, development of strategy and policy, creative producing, supporting artists and everything in between!
She believes in the power of the arts to enrich lives, help with wellbeing and in the strength the arts have in bringing people and communities together.
Nicola Lynch and Sally Southern
Nicola Lynch and Sally Southern are local freelance artists based in Cullercoats, specialising in running both large and small scale art projects. They frequently work with communities that have little or no previous engagement with the arts and aim to bring quality, accessible creativity to all.
Nicola's background is in sculpture and 3D work, whilst Sally's is in textiles and surface pattern. Both have 20+ years experience working as community artists, and have worked regularly together on projects for the past 10 years.
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