Challenge Nottingham

LOOK! Y9+ Drama & English Teachers!
FREE Hands-on Teacher CPD
Mon 23 March 2026, 3.30-5.30pm at Lakeside Arts.

This immersive session will:
- Explore creative approaches to teaching Macbeth through drama, visual storytelling, and classroom activities
- Provide ready-to-use resources to support literacy, comprehension, and engagement
- Help you unlock the play’s themes, characters, and language in ways that resonate with students
- Give teachers tips to support students to complete their written exam

Sign Up! https://bit.ly/4lFOIiT

✍️ Interested in writing? Join this event at Wollaton Hall, and be inspired like young people were last year!!

‘A brilliant and informative insight into creative careers’,
‘Excellent variety of speakers, Inspirational for young people’,
‘Very inspiring to hear from people from different backgrounds’, ‘Very informative – I learnt a lot as a student considering a career in writing.’

📅 Tuesday 10th March 2026
⏰ 4pm - 7pm
🎫 £2.90 per person (includes booking fee)
🚗 Parking charges apply

Aimed at students and young people aged 14-25, enjoy a series of talks and activities with professionals from various backgrounds, to share how they use written language in their lives and careers.

➡️ Discover more and plan your visit:
https://wollatonhall.org.uk/writing-for-life/

Register your free place
Thurs 2 July 2026, 1.30-5.30pm
You’re invited!
Join colleagues from across Nottingham for this year’s in‑person Summer Gathering / Creative INSET, a free event designed to spark inspiration, connection and fresh ideas for your school’s creative journey.

This year’s theme — Creativity, Inclusion and Belonging — speaks directly to the heart of what teachers do every day. Expect:

✨ Hands‑on creative workshops led by brilliant local arts providers
✨ Practical ideas you can take straight back to your classroom
✨ Updates and insights from the SEND/Galleries Group and the Nature Connections projects
✨ A chance to explore Nottingham College’s City Campus
✨ Dedicated time to start shaping your Cultural Rucksack opportunities for 2026/27

Whether you're teaching in primary or secondary, this is a chance to step away from the busy day‑to‑day, reconnect with your own creativity, and gather new approaches to support your pupils’ imagination, wellbeing and sense of belonging.

Come and be inspired, informed and revitalised.
Free places are available - register now to secure your place.

We’re excited to be supporting to help connect people across Nottingham with an opportunity that builds confidence, skills and community.

From 21 March to 8 April, volunteers, aged 16-24 years, can give just 4 hours to local community projects — and earn a ticket to an exclusive Tinie Tempah show at Rock City.

Nottingham RockCorps is a powerful way for young people to:
✔ Gain hands-on experience
✔ Build confidence and transferable skills
✔ Strengthen their CV
✔ Be part of something positive in their city

If you work with young people, or know any! Please share this opportunity across your networks.

Sign up now 👉 www.nottinghamrockcorps.com

Get ahead and sign up for our next Primary Culture Meet, Mon 27 April 4-5pm.

Join for an online update with arts providers to hear first hand what’s coming up across the arts, culture and creativity sector. Stay at the heart of these exciting conversations, one of the key characteristics of a Cultural Rucksack school - helping you plan more meaningful, creative experiences that link classroom learning with Nottingham’s vibrant cultural scene.

Come along, get inspired, and discover new opportunities for your pupils this term. We warmly invite all schools to join in!

https://bit.ly/PrimaryCultureMeetApr2026
(Photo credit: Lakeside Arts)

Spring is in the air and our latest newsletter for Primary colleagues has landed too! See what connections and opportunities you can grow to build a cultural entitlement in your school. Its bursting with ideas, resources, exhibitions and so much more across Nottingham.

Share it in your teams and sign up for future editions
🎯 https://bit.ly/4f28PU9

Schools can also submit ideas for their own action learning proposals for up to £1500 towards Nature Connections projects; and also bring Ideas to our 'Test and Pilot fund' to support pupil visits to galleries, theatres and museums in Nottingham.

✅️https://bit.ly/PrimaryENewsMar26

Spring is in the air and our latest newsletter for Secondary colleagues has landed too! See what connections and opportunities you can grow to build a cultural entitlement in your school.

Its bursting with ideas, resources, exhibitions and so much more across Nottingham. Share it in your teams and sign up for future editions
🎯https://bit.ly/4f28PU9

Submit ideas for your own action learning proposals for up to £1500 towards Nature Connections projects in your school; and also bring Ideas to our 'Test and Pilot fund' to support pupil visits to galleries, theatres and museums in Nottingham.

✅️https://bit.ly/SECMar26ENews

Still time to see this wonderful exhibition…

🗺️ Transitions - Danny

💬 'Nottingham was there for me when I was carrying more than I should have ever had to, and now I'm trying to give that back.'

'Transitions' is an exhibition by Nottingham-based artist Anthony Donnelly that explores stories of change, resilience, and transformation through the portraits of seven city residents. Selected and interviewed by the artist, each participant has a family history shaped by migration.

The stories, recalled here by the artist, remind us that transitions are not abstract or remote, but both personal and universal. Whether through migration, loss, or new beginnings, we all carry stories of change.

📅 On display until Sunday 8th March 2026
🎫 Included in your Standard Admission to Nottingham Castle - pay once, visit all year round!

🔊 Visit our website to hear how the sitters for this exhibition feel about their home and adoptive city of Nottingham: https://www.nottinghamcastle.org.uk/transitions/

'Transitions' was commissioned by Nottingham City Museums, and is presented alongside the National Portrait Gallery's travelling exhibition 'Lives in Motion: Stories of Migration from the 11th Century to the Present Day'.

Visit Notts What's On Nottingham My Nottingham Anthony Donnelly National Portrait Gallery

Look!

Great for our Young Creatives from Connecting Notts to be part of this! Find out more - https://connectingnotts.co.uk

Look!

Happy February Half Term! 🌟

Our Half Term Family Activities kick off tomorrow, and we can’t wait to welcome you!

✨Bring your curiosity, creativity and the whole fam for sessions that involve making, exploring and playing together.✨

Inspired by our current exhibitions from Shahana Rajani: Lines That World a River and Dala Nasser: Cemetery of Martyrs, our activities invite you to experiment with new ideas and get hands-on as a family.🎨

We have sold out on pre-bookable tickets, however our workshops are drop-in as people come and go throughout the session.

We can’t wait to see you there, to find out more about the sessions visit the link below:
https://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/whats-on/february-half-term-family-activities/

📅Tue 17 Feb, Wed 18 Feb, Thu 19 Feb, 10am-12pm & 1pm-3pm

Image Credit: Emma Ford

[ID: Children playing an a workshop space, one child is hoping from one colourful circle to another and the others are running in the space.]

February half-term is upon us!
The Parent & Carer E-News has been out for a week and is on the website
Find it here: https://bit.ly/ParentCarerENewsFeb2026

Your guide to arts, culture and creative activities to banish the ☔️☔️
It's full of what's happening across the City.

Find it here: https://bit.ly/ParentCarerENewsFeb2026