Mission’s Edwin S Richards arts based curriculum school received the Arts Schools Network (ASN) 2019 Arts Integration Award on May 15.
ASN, the nation’s largest professional membership organization of specialized arts schools, presents this award to “a school that has demonstrated leadership in bringing arts integration strategies into the curriculum. This school will have demonstrated an outstanding record of supporting such approaches as: dedicating resources to bringing in outside professional teaching artists to complement the work of staff arts specialists, who team-teach with other core curriculum teachers across content area; who support professional development on arts integration for teachers; who write arts-integration into school improvement plans, and who are committed to implementing arts-integrated curriculum across different grade levels.”
The award will be presented to ESR at the annual ASN Conference in October.
Last year ESR received the Exemplary School Award through ASN and will hold that designation until 2023.
At ESR, the arts are infused into all curricular areas. Principal Sharon Widdows explains that infusing arts into the curriculum must be done with rigor and intent, providing an additional lens through which students can learn and embody new concepts.
Additionally, it is a way in which students can demonstrate their understanding.
Every year the school presents its Spring Celebration of Learning through drama or music and movement, according to an annual theme.
This year students demonstrated their learning of science, language arts, social studies, anti-bullying, and Aboriginal ways of knowing through the art of puppetry.
Planning is already underway for next year, when staff and students will work with artists-in-residence Boris Sichon and Triumph Acrobatics to present a Cirque-du-Soleil style celebration based on the theme of Time.
For more information about ESR call the school at 604-826-2834.
