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Acklam Grange School | BloomInArt | Tees Valley, UK | Year 7 students created their own fabric with fused recycled plastic. They wanted to demonstrate the impact of plastic pollution in our rivers and oceans by using this fabric to create different habitats and sea life. They decided that nature itself was their collective hero.

Afienya School | Bright Ackwerh | Ghana | Inspired by the theme of Working River, students from Afienya D A Basic School C imagined how they could change the area around the Thames to make it more familiar to their indigenous culture. They also thought about how more equitable planning could make the river a more profitable and accessible resource for everyone, developing a more socially inclusive settling around it.

All Saints Catholic School | Joanna Bunce | Dagenham, UK | To make the artwork, students were asked to brainstorm words that they associate with the Queen. All the descriptions were positive and included words like dedicated, hard-working, kind, confident, loyal and brave!

Alsop High School | Elaine Law | Liverpool, UK | Colourful pictures of buildings that capture the energy and vibrancy of riverside life. Students used a variety of pencils, pens and paint to create the artwork.

Alton School | Victoria Sanderson | Hampshire, UK | Alton High School chose the symbol of fish as their starting point because in many cultures it’s a metaphor for deep awareness. They wanted to use this idea to bring awareness to the need for promoting clean river water. Many pupils also used this opportunity to respond to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, using the Union Jack to represent the UK.

Anderson Serangoon Junior College | Hemma Balakrishnan | Singapore | Photographs of riverside scenes and mythical river creatures. Students arranged these images together to illustrate the idea that rivers are mighty, magical places.

Anthony Curton C of E Primary School | Dawn Liddle | Cambridgeshire, UK | Pupils investigated the wildlife and ecosystems of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, particularly the fish. Then they made clay models of local fish, such as eel and bream. With the declines in eel populations across Norfolk, the design was made to reflect the importance of this and to promote sustainability. 

Archbishop Beck | Hector Dyer | Liverpool, UK | Students looked at plans to rewild rivers in Britain alongside international projects, thinking about how these programmes can work in different contexts. Then they planned to rewild the city of Liverpool and the river Mersey – what would this involve and lead to? Working with willow, the students designed and built 3D structures of their plans, before adding transparent paper and coloured paper to bring these visions to life.

Ark All Saints Academy | Shona Watt | London, UK | Students explored the iconic Pearly Kings and Queens of London, famous for their highly decorated ‘pearly’ costumes. The group explored images based on the Queen’s reign and themes relating to the Thames.  They produced sequinned collages replicating the pearly buttons. The images include the river, corgis, sceptres, crowns, orbs, flowers and doves symbolising peace. The figure in top right is Queen Elizabeth made from sequins.

Arnold View Primary School | Lisa Wilson | Nottinghamshire, UK | The Year 3 class took part in a short study of rivers, looking in particular at the local River Trent. They discussed rivers around the world and reflected on the importance of rivers for people and wildlife. Each child decorated a water bottle with coloured tissue paper and put a message with their hopes and wishes for the environment inside.

Arunima Secondary School | Kailash Shrestha | Nepal | Queen Elizabeth is at the centre of the artwork, reflecting how the UK is leading discussions on climate change. Many elements of the artwork were made using coloured pens that the students had planned to throw away, which was done to reinforce the point that reducing, reusing and recycling, even on an individual level, is important. Students also painted fish and other positive symbols on their palms, showing their respect for nature.

Aspire Academy | Kayleigh Jackson | Hull, UK | A kaleidoscope of underwater life! Students drew fish and layered them on top of colourful patterns. The kaleidoscope style of this piece reflects the many different colours, shades and forms in water.

Badi-Ud-Din Mahmud Girls' College | Fathima Fazla | Sri Lanka | Beautiful drawings of riverside scenes in Sri Lanka. These pictures show us that rivers are places for both people and animals to enjoy.

Barking Abbey School | Damion Sizer | Greater London, UK | Within their silhouettes, each pupil wanted to have images that reflect how water can harbour and promote life. In the space outside the silhouettes, pupils wanted to have contrasting images of pollution. They wanted to show that the problem of pollution is all around us and can be overwhelming. Having their silhouettes united in one image represents their combined desire to see this problem overcome. Gabriela Aleksieva (student): “I found it very exciting to use a range of practical and digital skills in raising awareness about how polluted water can affect us all.”

Barlby Community Primary School | Lucy Cooper | Yorkshire, UK | Investigating the stretch of the River Ouse that runs through the village of Barlby, North Yorkshire, students looked at the impact of individuals' actions on the water system. They identified problems and possible sources of pollutants in rivers. Then they created River Creatures with superpowers to help clean the river water for wildlife and future generations to enjoy. 

Beacon Rise Primary School | Catherine Powell | Bristol, UK | Beacon Rise Primary School has three buildings named after three rivers which are local to Bristol: Frome, Severn and Avon. To prepare for the project, children researched the local rivers and made observations on them. Then they made huge paintings of each river with the Create Council in their school, working hard to illustrate all the different colours and textures of water. The children cut out silhouettes of river life from these paintings to form their final collage. Isaac Iwasiuk (student): “The fish are unique just like people. Swimming through rivers makes you feel free.”

Beamont Collegiate Academy | Joan Apsey | UK | Students at Beamont Collegiate Academy were excited to collaborate with Ethiopian students, especially as they had previously learnt about Lake Tana in their Geography lessons. It was fun and intriguing for them to all share ideas and complete the same piece of artwork. Looking at SDG 6 and 14, the children talked about the importance of clean water for all, provoking interesting discussions that led to their final piece.

Belfast Boys' Model School | Conor McGinley | Northern Ireland, UK | Boys’ Model School looked at their closest river, the Lagan. They chose to focus on the sports and activities surrounding their local river. The centre of the design shows a bicycle wheel, around which you can see rowing boats, people fishing and bicycles. The boys choose Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the silhouette, as the boys felt it was inspirational how the Ukrainian president stood by his country and did not leave the war zone. 

Bellerive College | Hector Dyer | Liverpool, UK | Students studied the work of John D. Liu in the Loess Plateau for how ‘lost’ rivers can come back to life. They also discussed the colonial overtones that are apparent in more recent projects in the field. Students then imagined that, 100 years from now, the river Mersey has dried up and been forgotten about. Working with applique, embroidery and quilting, students made artworks that presented the impacts of a dried up river Mersey, plans to restore it, and the importance of its re-emergence.

Belmont Primary School | Paige Finley | Derbyshire, UK | Building upon our curriculum work on rivers, the children embarked on creating their designs using recycled materials sourced from home. Each child produced one element of our flag reflecting the importance of valuing our environment and encompassing our school ethos of supporting each other to achieve success. 

Belvedere Academy | Adam Sadiq | Liverpool, UK | Students looked at North and South America, exploring the Yellowstone, Mississippi and Amazon rivers. They downloaded satellite imagery and searched for creative commons imagery to produce photo collages. They also looked at museum archives and other sources to access photos. Each collage explores the connection between nature and culture on an assigned river. Then, using digital software, everything was combined to create one larger collage.

Birchwood Grove Primary School | Paige Tyers | West Sussex, UK | The students expressed their hope for clean oceans filled with aquatic life, which represented at the bottom of the design, luscious green forests, represented in the centre, and clear unpolluted air, represented at the top. The central image is a collage of the planet itself. The students used a variety of mediums including sand, shells, paint, string and tissue paper.  

Birla Balika Vidyapeeth | Vandita Sharma | India | After completing research on endangered fresh water aquatic animals, students felt inspired to make their own aquatic animals out of found objects. They wanted their artwork to represent eternal hope for our planet and a step towards a ‘River of Life’.

Boston Grammar School | Emily Cartwright | Boston, UK | A multi-layered papercut, inspired by the artwork of Hari and Deepti! The objective was to use the buildings and landscapes of Nepal to create a scene. When designing their scene, students thought about how humans interact with nature in both city environments and natural environments. The silhouette in the corner is of Professor Jonathan Van Tam, a former student at Boston Grammar School. The students involved were all in Year 10 and used the project as part of their GCSE coursework.

Boston High School | Emily Cartwright | Boston, UK | Students created mandalas using paper cutting and quilling techniques, inspired by artists such as Elsa Mora and Yulia Brodskaya. Mandalas are an iconic symbol of Nepal and often focus on spiritual ideas such as the environment and nature. They are also used for meditation. Students designed their mandala with the environmental theme of the project in mind and incorporated elements that felt personal to them. The silhouette in the corner is of Jean Ingelow, a 19th century poet and writer from Boston, who often wrote about the environment.

Bracoden Primary School | Shirley Sutherland | Scotland, UK | Bracoden Primary is a small school situated near the Northeast coastal village of Gardenstown and the surrounding area of Gamrie. Students love the beautiful beaches and work with their community to keep the beaches clean during the summer term. They took great pride in creating artwork to reflect the beauty of their natural environment. Using recycled card and string, students designed stencils to make colourful prints of fish and sea creatures.

Bridgewater High School | Amanda Silver | Warrington, UK | Students made blue droplets by photographing found objects, and made green droplets by photographing nature. They arranged the droplets in a fantastic repeating pattern!

Broadgreen International School | Adam Sadiq | Liverpool, UK | Students looked at Africa, exploring the Congo, Senegal, Niger, Zambezi and Nile rivers. They downloaded satellite imagery and searched for creative commons imagery to produce photo collages. They also looked at museum archives and other sources to access photos. Each collage explores the connection between nature and culture on an assigned river. Then, using digital software, everything was combined to create one larger collage.

Broughton Hall Catholic High School | Christina Diakou | Liverpool, UK | Students learnt about where water is sourced across the world and the importance of clean water for our survival. They also learnt about the effect that climate change is having on global weather patterns. Students then created a collaborative piece using photographs of taps that they each captured in their homes and at school.

Cardinal Heenan | Hector Dyer | Liverpool, UK | Students got inspiration from architectural plans where rivers are the focal point of cities – how does this change and enhance the experience of living there? Then they looked at futuristic designs for cities. Students combined these two ideas by planning their own fantastical future city where the river is key to the community’s survival. Working with illustration and narrative techniques, the students developed their own character to live in this world and, if needed, protect the river.

Cardinal Newman Catholic High School | Helen Hunt | Cheshire, UK | Students found images and text from magazines and maps of Warrington linking to the theme of River City. They were inspired by the work of local artist Tom Quigley and the collage work of Rauschenberg and Picasso. Students used gum tape, acrylic paint, coffee stains, quick ink and written research to build the background surface. Then they overlayed Amharic text, translating words like rivers and climate change, and a stencil of Greta Thunberg, as students felt that she reflected the theme well. Eliza Stan (student): “It was so fun spending time doing artwork about things I’m passionate about (like nature and climate change), having fun with my friends and meeting new people in the process”

Chadsgrove Special School Worcestershire, UK & Ruai Primary School, Kenya | Julia Llyodlangston | Chadsgrove Special School made sculptures out of willow branches and decorated them with paper, plastic and fabric (photographed at the bottom). Students from Ruai Primary school expressed their dreams of a beautiful future world (photographed in the thought bubbles).

Chevening (St Botolph's) C of E Primary School | Karen Minnis | Kent, UK | At Chevening CEP, the Early Years and Infant children worked together to create their own River of Hope installation. They painted stones different vibrant colours and wrote the Christian values of the school on many of them. Students arranged the stones outside to form a cascading river leading into the classrooms!

Chollerton First School & Whitley Chapel First School | Hazel Davey and Christine Hilton | Northumberland, UK | These two schools provided the artwork for this design entitled ‘Nature Nurture’. It shows how people around the world use water for things like washing, drinking and making sure plants grow. The students also wanted to highlight some of the many underwater creatures that are affected by pollution.

Chorister School | Jo Barber | County Durham, UK | Students researched the River Wear, which surrounds the school on three sides. They learnt about the history, myths and wildlife of the river. Students recalled seeing otters, kingfishers and herons. To make the final piece, each student produced an individual artwork linked to one aspect of the river that interested them.

Christ Church C of E Primary School | Sarah Howard & Clare Shivnan-Taylor | Greater Manchester, UK | Year 3 art club began the project by looking at local rivers that are heavily polluted. They thought about what a perfect river might look like – one that sparkles and is vibrant with wildlife! Using old cereal boxes, string, PVA glue, tin foil and marker pens we created images of healthy, flowing rivers.

Church Langley Community Primary School | Lisa Merchant | Essex, UK | Each child used their artistic skills to create a visual representation of the impact of river pollution within the outline of a raindrop, used to represent the destruction caused by acid rain. These pictures have been pieced together over a rainbow sky to symbolise hope for a world without pollution.

Churston Ferrers Grammar School | Ione Maria Rojas | Devon, UK | A series of experiments with air dry clay and wild clay, sourced from the River Dart and across Devon. Students learnt how to make pinch pots and they made their own tiles as part of the workshop before starting their final piece, which was partly inspired by a game of exquisite corpse. The final piece includes a series of river guardians, coloured to reflect the changing River Dart as it moves from the moor to the sea. Some protect the river, some ask us to change how we care for it, others remind us of its beauty and the lives that depend on it.

City District Government Girls High School | Sarah Mumtaz | Pakistan | This piece is called ‘Tales of River Past’ and includes etchings on acrylic. Each image tells a story of life by the river, inspired particularly by the Ravi River.

Clapham Terrace Community Primary School | Annette McAteer | Warwickshire, UK | Wonderful illustrations of river scenes! Each student was asked to draw a part of the river that fascinated them.

Cockwood Primary School | Alison Roper | Devon, UK | The school is situated on the banks of the Exe Estuary, overlooking Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve. The children have an affinity with their local environment and wanted to focus on the river Exe for this project. It is everchanging and an important port of call for migratory birds going from North Africa to the Artic. In the artwork, the fish and birds are arranged so that they flow in a migratory style, and the birds make an ‘X’ to emphasise that the river Exe is at the heart of the community.

Corbridge Middle School | Meryl Batchelder | Northumberland, UK | This design is called ‘It’s Not Black and White’ and was created by Year 8 students. They wrote letters to the Queen, highlighting their concerns about the environment, such as drilling for oil and polluting our rivers with sewage. The snowflakes allude to the name that is often given to young people as they are seen as a less resilient generation. On the contrary, although the burden of the climate emergency weighs heavily on their shoulders, young people bring tremendous hope for the future. Orran (student): “The world is really unequal. Talking about the issues we face in the future, and taking action to reduce inequalities, is really important.”

Culcheth High School | Rachel Cornish | Warrington, UK | Bold silhouettes of monuments and buildings with the River Mersey running through them. Students explored techniques of pointillism to make the background, using paint and cotton ear buds. The rivers were cut out using craft knives, then words associated with climate change were drawn onto cartridge paper and glued behind each painting.