ART is the answer to turning round a Salford school.
Ninety-seven per cent of pupils who took the subject at Buile Hill High School last year gained A to C grade GCSEs.
The standard of work is so high it is to go on sale and a book of the children's work is planned. Prices range from é60 to é120 for work in paint, inks, textiles, and collages.
Cash from sales will go to a fund set up to help the school bid for special arts college status. But the school must improve its overall A to C pass rate, which stands at just 26 per cent.
Headteacher Bill Fitzpatrick said: "Our art department is extremely good. But we want to transfer that achievement to other departments.
"In order to gain special status, our general A to C rate must be at least 30 per cent. We must go much higher than that, and I believe we can achieve it.
"Raising cash by selling artwork will help raise the é50,000 we need to support our bid."
Work on a new é25m school to be built on existing playing fields will start in the next few weeks. It will replace the existing building which is more than 100 years old in parts.
Head of Art, Claire Blackett, said: "The kids are producing amazing work. We have a tight discipline structure, but we have a culture of revisiting their work and reviewing it. They don't just do something and leave it.
Abilities
"Work is tailored to meet every child's needs and abilities. We have a shared vision of what we want to achieve here.
"All the teachers have got a real passion for the subject and it can be infectious.
"We push the boundaries and take risks - this is not just painting by numbers. We use sewing machines to create work, and burn stuff. We use unorthodox ways."
The subject is such as big draw that more than of half pupils now take it as a GCSE.
Earlier this year, pupils' work was displayed on hoardings at Lowry House - a new office building under construction in Spring Gardens, Manchester.
The work was so popular, one piece by 16-year-old Gareth Harris was stolen.
Pupil Adam Grundy, 15, said: "In art we don't just sit in class and draw. We have gone on walks to drawings of trees and birds in flight. We went to Liverpool to an art gallery to see sculptures."
Konnor Wheeldon, 15, said: "Our art department is the best. My dad taught me to draw but at school we get given little tips, like smudging to get a good affect, and we use computers too.
"I would like to work in the music industry using my art to design CD covers and labels."
A major exhibition of the pupils' work is scheduled for next year with a Manchester city centre bar being the likely venue. But some of the work is on sale now.
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well impressed. i'm no artist but i always marvel at some of the art that is produced by our school pupils all over the country. there should be regular national exhibitons
The existing building is a little over 50 years old. No parts of it are anywhere near 100 years old.
The existing building was originally Salford Grammar School and was officially opened on the 21st March 1956.
The school was built on the grounds of Claremont House, a mansion which was purcased by the City of Salford from Sir Percival Heywood, a memember of the Manchester Banking family, in 1937.
I went to this school in the 1960,s and it was about 5 years old. When I read 100 years old I thought you had mistaken it for De La Salle just down the road. Even then the school was keen on art. The art teachers used to get out Harold Riley,s school work to try and copy. No chance it was incredible.