Coleham Primary School and Belle Vue Arts Festival: a match made in Heaven

'Creativity is the golden thread woven through Coleham School’s story' explained the school's dedicated Arts Co-ordinator Lottie Heap. 'We believe that we are all artists – staff and children together – and our creative curriculum gives everyone the opportunity to explore, express, and grow.' Business Manager Tracy Othen agrees. 'We place great value on creative thinking and entrepreneurship' she said 'because we know these skills will shape our children’s futures in an ever‑changing job market. Just as important, creativity nurtures confidence, joy and well being, enriching children's everyday lives both now and in years to come. We do lots of music, lots of drama, lots of art – not just in school but in the community as well'. So with creativity so high on Coleham Primary's agenda, it's little wonder the school has become an integral part of Belle Vue Arts Festival.

Townsend Art Gallery

In fact, school and festival have been inextricably linked since the festival's beginnings in 2003: festival founder Judy Townsend was also a teacher and parent at the school. Asked if it was important to Judy to bring the two together, Ms Othen said 'It was all seamlessly integrated. Judy was a teacher and a parent and her husband was a governor here. She lived in the community and that's still the same ethos we have.' Judy's belief in the life-enhancing value of the arts continues to be celebrated at the school in an art gallery bearing her name, where pupils' art is proudly displayed. The festival, meanwhile, awards its annual Judy Townsend Prize to a child who has shown outstanding enthusiasm and contributed to multiple events.

While artistic activity and community involvement is a year-round endeavour – last year the school's theatre group put on a play at the Flaxmill Maltings and this year is taking a Darwin-themed play to Shrewsbury Library – Belle Vue Arts Festival gives things a special focus. The Plant and Craft Fair, which acts as the festival's annual curtain-raiser, is held at the school every May and features lots of craft stalls as well as a display of pupils' competition entries. Taking inspiration from the festival's 2026 'Fantasy' theme, this year's fair saw some incredibly skilful and imaginative creations in categories such as 'Bake-Off', 'Mini-Gardens', 'Fantasy Land in a Box' and 'Potion and Spell'.

During the festival itself, more of the children's art is displayed on Greyfriars Bridge, plus they get involved in creating the painted windows. Pupils have already helped festival logo-designer Richard create the fantastic artwork currently wowing passers-by at the soon-to-be Molton 50 – and they will shortly be taking up the challenge of decorating windows at The Allotment. Additionally, the festival delivers a yearly in-school workshop resulting in a piece for art for display at the Festival Art Exhibition – but as well as that, every one of the school's 430 pupils also makes their own piece of art to be shown there. That's a staggering 430 pieces of art! This shouldn't come as a surprise though, from a school where nurturing pupils' creative abilities is at the heart of everything it does.

'Through our in‑school gallery exhibitions,' said Ms Heap 'visits to outside galleries and the joy of sharing work beyond our school walls, our children learn that art is meant to be seen, felt, and shared. The Festival is a wonderful reminder that creativity belongs to us all'. And the children themselves? They couldn't agree more. 'I love Belle Vue Arts Festival' nine year-old Jasper Noel-Hiles told us 'because my whole family gets to join in and be creative together. My mum is entering the chair art competition, and I’m working on a DJ set called Galaxies for this year’s Fantasy theme.'