Access in the Arts: Lessons from Origins Creatives 2025

Every year, Origins Creatives is always a highlight - a celebration of student creativity, showcasing the amazing work of UAL Awarding Body students from across a range of disciplines. In the 2025 edition, we welcomed students from Stormont House School, a school that specialises in supporting with special educational needs and disabilities, for an exclusive private viewing of the exhibition.

The visit provided an opportunity for these students to experience and engage with the work of their peers in a quieter and calmer environment. To further highlight the importance of inclusive creative education, we spoke with Poppy Wallis, a key contact from Stormont House.

In this Q&A, Poppy shares her insights on how creative qualifications help SEND learners express themselves and why art is such a powerful medium for communication. Ultimately, we learn how UAL Awarding Body can continue to advocate for more inclusive opportunities within the creative industries.

Read on to discover the impact of Origins Creatives from a SEND perspective, and why creative qualifications truly matter for all students:

How did your students respond to the private viewing at Origins Creatives 2025?

Our students were excited and inspired. They were able to see the work they had created outside of the school setting and exhibited alongside other diverse and wonderful pieces. The freedom of the space (quiet, no members of the public, friendly adults) allowed our students to experience and respond to the art and the environment in their own unique ways. Some in silence, some through drawing or writing, some through dancing and interacting with the artworks. It was a joy to step back and allow the students to enjoy an exhibition independently because they were in a safe and supported space.

The access morning for our SEND students at Origins was a fantastic way for the students to engage with the work of others and celebrate their own achievements.

Were there particular parts of the exhibition or student work that your learners especially connected with?

Our students particularly enjoy sculptural and tactile pieces of artworks. Especially when they were able to interact in some way with the piece by moving around or touching or viewing it from different perspectives. The music and film pieces were also very popular with our students, who love to engage with technology.

From your perspective, why are creative qualifications important for SEND learners?

Creative qualifications are essential for SEND learners. Creative qualifications celebrate individuality, and unique perspectives. Creative qualifications encourage communication in a variety of ways and enable students to find a voice to communicate their ideas and thoughts to the world.

Are there any aspects of our qualifications that you feel could suit the needs or learning styles of SEND learners?

UAL qualifications allow for teachers to be the experts. They provide starting points and guidelines in terms of assessment criteria but how these criteria are reached can be devised by the teachers. Teachers understand the needs of their students the best and know how to get the best out of their students. The qualifications focus on ways of communicating through a creative lens and this really supports our SEND students who frequently communicate in different ways and who see the world from a different perspective.

Are there other forms of access and support that would benefit your learners?

I think that continuing to include and highlight the work of students with SEND in exhibitions, within specifications and within UAL’s online platforms is very important. It provides inspiration and ensures students with SEND feel represented and included. Continuing to explore the level of qualifications offered and levels within different disciplines within art would also help to support students with SEND to access qualifications. Providing alternatives to written specifications, hands books and criteria so that all students can access the information about courses and pathways.

How can organisations like UAL Awarding Body continue to advocate for inclusive access to creative industries and qualifications?

Further support to prepare our students for the creative industries would be fantastic. What pathways could students take, careers advice, course advice, how they would be supported? Being able to see the work of and meet SEND students at FE colleges and Universities.