A SCHOOL has received a national award for its work promoting the arts.

Cockton Hill Infant School, in Bishop Auckland, is celebrating after gaining the Arts Council England Arts mark gold award in recognition of its arts education programme.

The school has already gained the Arts Council England Arts mark silver award in 2004.

Headteacher John Redman said: "We are delighted to receive this award. The staff, pupils and parents have all put a lot of hard work and effort into the art programme.

"We pride ourselves on our art department and try and weave as much creativity as possible into the school curriculum."

Youngsters have completed various art displays and have taken part in the Comenius project where they researched local artists such as Tom McGuinness and Antony Gormley and exchanged artwork with their partner schools in Poland, Estonia and France.

Deborah Tomkinson, art co-ordinator said: "The children work with a variety of art forms including textiles, painting and sculpting.

"We try to bring as much culture as possible into art classes and have had recent visits from Indian and African artists."