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Attenborough Arts Centre’s flagship SENsory Atelier programme has been named Learning Programme of the Year at the prestigious Museums + Heritage Awards 2025.

Leicester’s Attenborough Arts Centre scooped the national accolade at a prize ceremony held at London’s Hilton Park Lane, having been nominated alongside top peer organisations Bletchley Park, Chatsworth House, Historic Royal Palaces, the Â鶹APP Slavery Museum and the Natural History Museum.

The Learning Programme of the Year Award recognises the achievements of Attenborough Arts Centre’s SENsory Atelier programme, which brings artists to collaborate with pupils from ages 4 to 19, in nine SEN Schools across Leicestershire.

Responding directly to Attenborough Arts Centre’s mission of 'Art For All', SENsory Atelier provides an innovative model for putting arts and culture at the heart of SEN education, inspired by the Reggio Emilia open pedagogy.

SENsory Atelier enables children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to lead their own learning journeys through a range of sensory experiences and creative stimuli provided by artists undertaking residencies in the classroom. This approach, which prioritises creativity and open-ended enquiry, has had proven transformational impacts on pupils’ learning, confidence and communication over many years.

In the most recent three-year phase of the project, SENsory Atelier engaged 1,957 young people and delivered over 2,224 hours of activity in formal SEND school settings, supported the training and development of 605 teachers and support staff and helped develop the practice of 230 artists. In 2024 SENsory Atelier published a national code of practice for SEND education, launched an evaluation tool for SEND settings, held a national symposium on inclusive learning and produced two major exhibitions about and featuring the work of SENsory Atelier participants.

SENsory Atelier has been made possible through generous funding from Paul Hamlyn Foundation, which since 2016 has enabled Attenborough Arts Centre to develop and expand its practice-led approach to inclusive learning. Attenborough Arts Centre embarks on its next three-year phase of funding for the programme from spring 2025, which will see SENsory Atelier develop further in scale and scope.

Marianne Scahill-Pape, Learning & Outreach Manager at Attenborough Arts Centre who originally conceived and has overseen the programme since 2016, said:

“We celebrate and share this Learning Programme of the Year award with every child and young person, teacher, artist and partner who has been part of SENsory Atelier over the past nine years. The programme is led by children who create their own learning pathways through creativity. Our holistic, collaborative approach to teaching and learning with 9 Leicestershire SEN schools and artists consistently demonstrates the power of art in education.We are deeply grateful to Paul Hamlyn Foundation for their longstanding visionary support of Attenborough Arts Centre’s work, which will continue to enable hundreds more SEN school pupils vital access to creativity and culture.”

Michael Attenborough CBE, Patron of Attenborough Arts Centre, said: “I am incredibly proud that the Arts Centre my father established has been presented with this hugely prestigious national award. To witness Attenborough Arts Centre, up against mighty national institutions, be recognised for their innovatory, progressive and imaginative work was utterly thrilling. They were cheered to the rafters; an amazing celebration!”

Lisa Jacques, SENsory Atelier Programme Manager, said:“As SENsory Atelier Programme Manager, I work alongside the teachers, artists, children and young people and witness the impact this approach has on all involved every day. The power of this programme is in how it gives voice and agency through child-centred learning, using creativity and sensory learning as the tool for engagement.”

Abi Steady, Deputy Head, Ashmount School said:“SENsory Atelier has surpassed all our expectations in its capacity to unlock the endless creativity of those who many in society deem ‘have no voice’.This award places a spotlight on our fundamental expectation that all people with special rights deserve access to the individualised resources, facilitation and philosophical foresight required to enable them to develop and express their creativity. Operating within this understanding, there are truly no limits to what young people can do!”

Sian W Taylor, SENsory Atelier Artist said:“There are moments in your life, when you feel that you are part of something that redefines how you approach the world. SENsory Atelier makes me want to explore, evolve and champion how we engage with children and young people. It's makes me feel proud, it makes me want to tell everyone about what has happened, what can happen and what will happen, when you are part of a programme that always looks at how we can shape a future, where empowerment, creativity and collaboration is at the heart of everything.This nomination fills me with the frisson of excitement and potential of where we take the next steps”

For more information about Attenborough Arts Centre and its SENsory Atelier programme, visit: