Celebrating School Prints
08 Jul 2026
On 1 July, The Hepworth Wakefield hosted a celebration event at Normanton Junior Academy, West Yorkshire, to mark the end of this year’s School Prints project.
Cllr Lukasz Borcz, Portfolio Holder for Culture & Sport at Wakefield Council, attended the event alongside Olivia Colling, The Hepworth Wakefield’s Executive Director; Luke Welsh, Executive Headteacher of Normanton Junior Academy; Samantha Brook, Teacher and Art Lead; and pupils from the school.
Headteacher Luke reflected on the experience, stating that ‘this is one of the best things we have ever done in my six years as headteacher.’
Speaking to the Wakefield Express, Bea Wright, The Hepworth Wakefield’s Schools Programmer, said: ‘For a lot of schools it’s quite hard to have that opportunity to explore the arts or have visits to galleries because of things like the cost. This scheme helps students develop skills and techniques and inspire them to create art where there is no wrong or right way to do it. This celebration allows them to have that sense of pride in their work.’
School Prints is a free scheme The Hepworth Wakefield started seven years ago to ensure every child in Wakefield has meaningful engagement with art before they leave school. We work with the schools over a number of months, facilitating a series of printmaking workshops in school with local artist Rachel Sim, and welcoming the children to the gallery for school trips.
This year, The Hepworth Wakefield has worked with five schools in Normanton, a small market town in the Wakefield district of West Yorkshire. At the end of the project, the schools are gifted three prints by leading contemporary artists and the children will all be given a creativity kit so they can continue to make art after the project has completed. We will also continue to work with the selected schools over the next academic year.
