A Darlington junior school is celebrating becoming the first in the town to be granted an Artsmark gold award.

The award - a national scheme managed by the Arts Council England - covers every aspect of the arts including music, drama, arts and crafts and dance. Its aim is to give recognition and reward to schools dedicated to the arts.

Schools across the country were invited to apply for one of three categories of the award: the basic Artsmark, silver or gold.

With its already strong emphasis on the arts, and with encouragement from Darlington Local education Authority, Abbey Junior decided to go for gold.

To apply, the school had to complete a 70-page document giving information about how the arts were timetabled, extra-curricular arts activities, how the school celebrated creative achievement and much more. An external assessor then visited and reported back to the awards panel.

The whole application process was spread over two terms. Throughout this time, teachers and pupils worked across all the key art forms of dance, drama, music and arts, including an arts week, musical performances and working on joint projects with the neighbouring infants' school.

Headteacher George Ford said: "Our staff work hard to develop the arts within each child and activities such as music, dance and drama are extensively timetabled."

Mr Ford felt that by involving pupils in the arts it helped stimulate creativity and increase confidence.

"This spills over into other areas of traditional schooling, as confidence is the key to performing academically and socially," he added.

* Two other schools in Darlington received an Artsmark basic award: Rise Carr Primary and Branksome Comprehensive.