Celebrating the schools keeping creativity alive

With schools across the country cutting creative subjects from their timetables, the dot-art Schools programme is fighting back. The results are on the walls of one of the UK’s most prestigious galleries.

The dot-art Schools 2026 culminates in an exhibition, now on at the Walker Art Gallery. It showcases work by Year 5 and Year 9 students from almost 90 schools across the Liverpool City Region. For many of these children, they are displaying their work in a public space for the first time.

Now in its 14th year the programme arrives at a critical moment. Across the UK, schools are dropping arts subjects in favour of academic subjects. Funding pressures and league table priorities have driven this change. The number of students taking GCSE art has fallen 42 per cent since 2010. Teachers and education experts warn that an entire generation risks growing up without meaningful access to creative education.

Claire Benjamin, head of Learning & Participation, National Museums Liverpool said:

“The dot-art Schools Exhibition is a standout event in the Walker Art Gallery programme, celebrating the extraordinary creativity of children and young people across the region. Through our partnership with dot-art and schools, we’re helping ensure that art remains a powerful medium for self-expression, especially for young people who may not otherwise have access to creative opportunities or resources.”

Winners were honoured at a prize-giving ceremony at St George’s Hall. Special guest judge Adele Darlington selected the overall winners, following a shortlisting panel and a public online vote. The process starts from school submissions to professional judging, to public vote, to gallery exhibition. It gives students a real art world experience.

Carolyn Murray, dot -art Schools project manager commented:

“We believe creativity isn’t a luxury — it’s essential. At a time when arts education is under real pressure, dot-art Schools is proof of what’s possible when communities invest in young people’s creative futures. The work on display at the Walker this year is extraordinary, and every piece represents a child who was given the chance to express themselves and be recognised for it.”

2026 dot-art Schools Results

• Primary Overall Winner: “Fire Dancer” by Camden Hopkins, Blackmoor Park Junior School
• Primary Runner Up: “The many greens of summer” by Cora Daniel, Our Lady’s Bishop Eton Catholic Primary School
• Primary Runner Up: “Towering Terror” by Junior, Banks Road Primary School
• Secondary Overall Winner: “Expressionist Seascape” by Savannah Baig Rose, The Academy of St Nicholas
• Secondary Runner Up: “Eye of the Tiger” by Lucy H, Alt Bridge School
• Secondary Runner Up: “Lifestyle and fashion collage”, by Laraib Mashaba, Childwall Sports & Science Academy

See It for Yourself

The dot-art Schools 2026 Exhibition is free and open to the public at the Walker Art Gallery from Thursday, 4 – Sunday, 5 July, from 10am-5pm (closed Mondays).

Young visitors are invited to take part in a “Draw your Rights” activity. They can add their own work in response to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to a Mini Gallery that grows throughout the exhibition.