Summer Term Newsletter 2026
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“AT The Bus feels like a home...it makes me feel calm."
Pupil
Welcome to our summer newsletter. As we draw to the close of the 2025/6 academic year, we are delighted to share that we have been able to support more children and young people than ever before with school-based art as therapy. We have continued to innovate whilst expanding our reach, growing our income and developing new partnerships. In 2025/6:
1,100 children & young people benefitted from art as therapy with AT The Bus, totalling 4,000 since 2019.
We ran 200 art-as-therapy programmes.*
We worked with 18 schools including one new secondary school and two new primary schools for our Supporting Transitions programme.
We piloted ways to connect children to real-life artists and makers through a new Artists in Residence project.
We trained five new facilitators and volunteers who will go on to support delivery in 2026/7, amounting to 48 hours of training.
We delivered 20 hours of external training to over 100 individuals in school and NHS settings.
We delivered specialist support to young people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and to those new to the UK.
*= a full school’s term worth of art-as-therapy sessions
Our core work with children in our studios continues to deliver critical support, with therapeutic arts teams working closely with schools to meet the needs of the children. We also continue to provide training both internally to support the professional development of our staff, and externally to those interested in enriching their practice and learning from our methodology.
Alongside this work, we have been able to support enrichment activities such as artist workshops, visits and talks, and pilot a new programme supporting children with their transition to secondary school.
The crisis in children’s mental health is far from over and the need for our work remains greater than ever. A new report from the Children’s Commissioner has revealed that mental health referrals for children & young people reached one million last year, up 10 per cent on the previous year. With many children waiting months or years for support, early intervention services like AT The Bus offers are vital to prevent needs escalating. At the same time, budgets are increasingly stretched for schools and the fundraising landscape for charities is more challenging than ever.
Our impact - studio story
“This self-portrait clock was made by a young person over much of the term. She found it challenging to speak in the group and to find the confidence to know what to paint. Over the weeks and through gentle support and encouragement, she started her clock basing it on an English beach she had been to. She was fascinated by the idea of using the texture of paint to create a ‘moving’ sea. She started very slowly building up layers of paint to create the waves, patiently waiting for the layers to dry each week.
As her confidence slowly developed, so her seascape became more wild, layered and textured. Her ideas also developed as she became more playful in her art and descriptive in her words. When it came to adding herself on the seascape, she chose to put herself in a boat, navigating the stormy seas. Her smile at the end encapsulated her work, her pride in her portrait project and the personal progress she’d made that term.”
Secondary School Studio Manager, AT The Bus
More news from our studios
A group of AT The Bus Year 5 pupils from Barlby Primary School recently visited the studio of our patron, sculptor Paul Vanstone’s studio, giving them the opportunity to engage directly with a practicing local artist through a studio visit and hands-on creative workshop.
Earlier this year we secured a grant from Thames Valley Police to run a pilot programme supporting children who may find the transition to secondary school challenging. This term we have begun working with Year 6 children from Cutteslowe and Wolvercote Primary Schools in Oxford and will support them across the transition into the next academic year as they start at The Cherwell School.
“The AT The Bus intervention at Lord Williams’s school has significantly boosted our young
people's confidence, self-esteem, resilience, and social skills… The sessions are helping vulnerable students manage anxiety, improve group engagement and develop better life tools, leading to improved school attendance and wellbeing.”
Headteacher, Lord Williams’s Secondary School, Oxfordshire
Fundraising and events
We have been delighted to meet so many of you at our various fundraising events, open studios and exhibitions this year.
A special thank you to Chandlings Prep School for choosing AT The Bus as their charity of the year, holding various fundraising events throughout the year and raising an amazing £6,273 to support more children & young people through art as therapy.
Interested in getting involved?
If you have an idea for a fundraiser, are a school or organisation interested in partnership or attending one of our open studio events, please get in touch with the team on fundraising@atthebus.org.uk.
Some highlights from this term are below:
1 The AT The Bus team at Barlby Primary School at an open studio and exhibition for children and families.
2 - 4 Paul Vanstone and Hirsh London Chelsea Flower event in partnership with AT The Bus. Guests included patrons Grayson Perry and Juliet Stevenson.
5 - 6 The AT The Bus team with the newly unveiled hoarding decorated with artwork from New Marston Primary School pupils at the Westlands development in Headington, Oxford. A partnership with Oxford City Council and OX Place.
Thank you for reading and for supporting our work.
Wishing you a wonderful summer.
The team at AT The Bus
Remembering Adam Munthe
AT The Bus founding trustee from November 2018 to May 2023
Died 8th April 2026
We are so very grateful for all the support Adam gave us during his time as Trustee and beyond.
