Leading arts figures joined London schoolchildren outside Westminster today to hand-deliver an open letter to the Department for Education, calling on the government to restore the value of arts subjects in England's schools.

Actor Jamie Kenna, artist Bob and Roberta Smith, Lorna May Wadsworth and composer and radio presenter Jack Pepper were among those who delivered the letter, which has been signed by about 10,000 members of the arts and education sectors, including Arlene Phillips, Harriet Walter and Lindsay Duncan.

The letter, organised by the Arts and Minds campaign, urges Education Secretary Lucy Powell and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to "remember the vital role arts subjects play in developing pupils' academic learning, employability skills and school engagement" as wider education reform is considered.

What the campaign is asking for

The signatories say they welcome the government's commitments to restore the value of creative subjects, but warn that "deep-rooted challenges" mean schools are "struggling" to make space for the arts in the curriculum.

The letter calls for space to be created in the curriculum for arts subjects, for funding for arts provision to be restored after "years of cuts", and for more teachers to be recruited in creative subjects.

Ed Harlow, president of the National Education Union and a spokesperson for the Arts and Minds campaign, said the government must tackle "the wholesale causes of the current status of arts in schools and work with the arts education sector to deliver a meaningful expansion of provision".

"The arts should not be an add-on or an optional extra; they should be a fundamental part of every child's school experience," he said.

Arts entries have fallen sharply

The campaign points to figures showing that entries for arts subjects at GCSE have fallen by 47% since 2010. Arts subjects at A-level have fallen to 10% of total entries, the largest single-year drop since 2021, according to this year's data.

A Teacher Tapp study last year found that only 7% of school leaders felt able to increase the amount of classroom time spent on arts subjects, while half said the "crowded" curriculum squeezes the arts out.

The campaign says that despite announcements such as scrapping the English Baccalaureate and a new enrichment framework, "the vast majority of school leaders still cannot increase the time spent on the arts in the curriculum".

Curriculum review a year on

The letter comes a year on from the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the independent review of what children are taught in England's schools.

The new national curriculum is due to be published in full later this year. The Department for Education said yesterday that there would be a focus on the early secondary school years, with pupils set to receive a "more engaging offer" in subjects including drama, music and PE.

The overhaul also proposed new expectations on schools to stop "the increasingly widespread practice" of encroaching on Key Stage 3 with an ever earlier focus on GCSEs, in a bid to create space for "deeper understanding and richer experiences".

The Arts and Minds campaign is a coalition of more than 30 organisations across the arts and education sectors, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Cultural Learning Alliance and the Independent Society of Musicians. The letter now sits with ministers as the full national curriculum is prepared for publication.