Richmond upon Thames' Education and Children's Services Committee has agreed to investigate a reported decline in arts education within the borough's schools, with a deep dive
into the issue scheduled for the February meeting.
The decision, made during a meeting on Thursday, September 10, 2026, followed concerns raised by Councillor Jo Humphreys, who presented devastating figures for the creative arts, both at GCSE and at A level, and how the numbers are plummeting, plummeting in these subjects.
She noted that A-level entries in art, design, drama, and music have fallen by 34% since 2010, and while GCSE numbers plateaued this year, they were at an all-time low last year.
The investigation will examine what is happening within our education system on all of these creative arts,
including what schools are doing to prepare for government curriculum changes and the current levels of GCSE and A-level uptake in these subjects. Councillor Penelope Frost successfully added a request to include further education colleges in this review,
highlighting that creative arts are often pursued further in these institutions.
The committee's decisions from the meeting can be found in the Decisions Thursday 10 September 2026. The agenda for the meeting was available as the Agenda frontsheet Thursday 10 September 2026, and the full Public reports pack Thursday 10 September 2026 was also published.