Arts Partnership Log

Made by Matt · madebymatt.uk · staff / leadership copy · 2026–27

This is a SETTING-side record, not a pupil sheet. It never goes in a pupil portfolio and it carries no pupil names — codes only, and only where a specific group needs identifying. Keep it with the department, not with the evidence packs.

Why this exists

Two separate things keep getting confused, so to be plain about both:

Arts Award (pupil side). Every level requires the pairing of an artist or practitioner and an arts or cultural organisation — Explore Part B, Bronze Part C, Silver Unit 1. That evidence lives on the pupil’s own cards and Artist Decision Matrix, in their portfolio.
Artsmark (setting side). Partnerships is one of the eight Artsmark criteria, and across this whole art suite it is the thinnest column. Artsmark evidence is a narrative written by the setting, assessed from a Statement of Commitment and a Statement of Impact. No pupil portfolio is ever submitted to Artsmark.

Nothing here should be described as Artsmark evidence unless the setting is actually registered on an Artsmark journey. That is still unconfirmed — check before the word is used in writing anywhere.

What counts as a partnership

The bar is lower than people assume, and the honest small things count more than an aspirational list that never happens:

A recorded walk-through or online collection used in a lesson, credited properly.
An email exchange that answered a pupil’s research question.
A visit — ours to them, or theirs to us.
A practitioner answering questions by video or in writing.
A venue showing pupil work, however small the wall.
A feeder school taking a pupil-led workshop.

The log

Organisation	Type	Route in / contact	What actually happened	Date	Tier / group	Evidence ref	Next step + owner

Approaching an organisation — the short version

Ask for one specific, small thing. “Would someone answer three questions from a Year 10 group by email?” gets a yes far more often than “would you work with us?”
Say what they get: named credit in a pupil exhibition, a photograph they can use, a short thank-you piece.
Give a date and a deadline. Open-ended requests drift.
Log the nos as well. A declined approach is still evidence of the setting reaching outward, and it stops the same door being knocked twice.
Check consent and safeguarding before any visit, recording or exchange involving pupils — and before any pupil work leaves the building.

Termly review — four questions

How many organisations did pupils actually encounter this term, not just hear named?
Did every pupil claiming an award have a real organisation on their card?
Which single approach would most improve next term, and who owns it?
What did we promise a partner that we have not yet delivered?