Tarun Ma Vi Secondary School | Kailash Shrestha | Nepal | The entire artwork is made from plastic that the children have used themselves. The artwork is a comment on contemporary human behaviour that poses a threat to the natural world. The blue background represents water, and the humans have been created with junk to reflect the idea that our behaviour causes river pollution. The children also wanted to get across the idea that waste can be re-imagined by upcycling it.
Teesside High School | BloomInArt | Tees Valley, UK | Year 9 and 10 students from Teesside High explored their relationship to nature and environmental landscapes. From individual research and sketchbook work, pupils created we felted landscapes with embroidered embellishment. Their chosen hero was class member Holly Smith who is a young environmental activist and is the central focus in their design.
The Abbey School | Emily Kelly | Berkshire, UK | Superimposed images of natural forms! Students experimented with different techniques to recreate shapes, patterns and colours seen in nature.
The Blue Coat School | Robbie Newman | Birmingham, UK | Pupils were encouraged to explore the theme of rivers through a variety of mixed media. They worked independently, making excellent use of recycled and natural materials, such as scrap paper, wrapping and packaging, newspaper, leaves, tree bark, pebbles and more!
The City School - Iqbal Campus Sialkot | Syeda Abeer Ali | Pakistan | Students wanted to create something meaningful and beautiful out of waste. They learnt that sea turtles and other marine creatures mistake plastics as food, which blocks their digestive system and can cause them to die. Students crafted their artwork from plastic bags, bottles, straws and other scrap items, to highlight the devastating issue of plastic pollution.
The Eveline Day School | Alice Markes | Greater London, UK | For homework over one weekend, the children had the task of collecting natural materials from their walks with family and friends. The range of what was brought in was fantastic! Each class then created their chosen fish using the materials they had gathered, such as branches, leaves, seeds, seashells, berries and flowers.
The Halley Academy | Shona Watt | Greenwich, UK | Students from the Halley Academy explored the rich history of gold, specifically crowns from Ghana. Using a mixture of recycled cardboard and mixed ‘gold’ and jewel-like materials, they created their individual crowns. Their inspirational figure is, South Londoner, Cynthia Erivo.
The London Nautical School | Shona Watt | Lambeth, UK | Boys from the famous London Nautical School used recycled foils to create medals. The boys chose themes relating to the Thames or the sea, made drawings of their ideas and embossed them into metal, adding gems, decorative edging and drawings of ribbons. The inspirational person (top right) is ex pupil, Arsenal footballer, Reiss Nelson.
The Mountbatten School, Hampshire, UK & Vikas Bharati Public School, India | Megan Roodt & Tracy Lyons | During the first part of the project, student at the Mountbatten School visited their local river at Tadburn Meadows to investigate the features of the landscape. They were particularly shocked to see a water pollution event first-hand due to an oil spill from a local industrial site. Using information provided by students at the Mountbatten School, students at Vikas Bahrati School then designed super-creatures that would protect the river! Designs from both schools can be seen in the final piece.
The Premier Academy | Jonathan Harris | Milton Keynes, UK | This artwork has been created collaboratively by children from England, Palestine and India. Inspiration came from the theme of keeping our rivers clean. The work included painting using watercolours, sculpting clay, sewing, drawing and creating designs in 2D and 3D. All children created work using their own ideas, rather than it being teacher-led. Nishant (student): “My main aim for this project was to show how we can use garbage to make beautiful things.”
The Priory Ruskin Academy | Rachel Quine | Lincolnshire, UK | Students used seeds to make scales for their fish. They arranged the fish in a circular pattern and placed them over an image of rippling water.
The Roman Ridge School | Valerie Mainoo | Ghana | The Volta River is the main river system in Ghana. Students identified their favourite part of the river, as well as the thing they most wanted to change. They designed super-creatures with special powers that would help to protect the Volta!
The Royal Liberty School | Lisa Stuchfield | London, UK | Students explored the different stages of the river, taking a geographical journey downstream, looking at features such as V-shaped valleys, meanders and estuaries. The heroes they designed have specific adaptations to protect the fragile ecosystems at each of these stages. Students pondered the journey of the river through its life cycle and linked it to the journey that the Queen has taken from the early years of her reign to now.
Thomas Cowley High School | Emily Cartwright | Boston, UK | Students discussed the beauty of biodiversity, as well as the sad reality of declines in biodiversity across the world. They used origami to make different kinds of animals and then photographed their creations under different levels of light, forming interesting shadows. The installation was made using entirely reclaimed materials to fit with the environmental message. In the top right corner is a silhouette of Thomas Cowley – a historical figure who gifted buildings and land in his will for the purpose of the school.
Thomas's Fulham | Ruth Swailes | Greater London, UK | Students turned to Japanese artist, Yusei Nagashima, for inspiration. They looked at different species and each drew their own fish. Each fish may be just as unique as ourselves, but despite their diversity they swim together in one shoal, signifying the collective effort it will take from humanity to guard and protect our rivers, the life within them, and the clean water that brings life to our planet.
Thornleigh Salesian College | Stephanie Tattersall | Bolton, UK | Students chose to highlight the importance of local wildlife within our rivers. Their artwork is centred around the carp, a fish that lives in the Thames. Each fish is decorated with a unique design, and they are arranged in a circular pattern to represent the circle of life.
Thornton Primary School | Katie Biddle Rawbone | West Midlands, UK | This artwork includes fabulous illustrations of fish, as well 3D models of fish made from found natural objects. The background colours reflect the shades of blue and green that can be found in and around rivers.
Tilney All Saints C of E Primary School | Dawn Liddle | Norfolk, UK | Students made their own sculptures of fish. They engraved their sculptures to add detail, and placed them over a backdrop of rolling waves to resemble a ‘River of Hope’.
Tredegar Comprehensive School | Leanne Greenway | Wales, UK | Inspired by the beautiful colours found in nature, students researched different underwater environments and came across tropical flowers, sea turtles, shells and coral. They also looked at Hawaiian artists to help them produce their own natural forms and designs.
Tudor Grange Academy | Claire Mills | Worcestershire, UK | Students researched ‘life below water’ in the River Severn – the river with the most voluminous flow of water in all of England and Wales. Alongside this, they investigated the River Jhelum in Pakistan and the many different ways in which it supports people and the environment.
Weilenbrink School | Charlotte Kelly | Germany | This project involved the Year 2 class at Weilenbrink Schule, Bochum, Germany. Bochum belongs to the heart of the Ruhr region, the Ruhrgebiet, stretching from Duisburg to Dortmund. The children chose a silhouette of the local waterways as the head of the stamp. Making this artwork brought the class together with a common love of painting in blue and white (Bochum’s colours) and the chaos and joy of “glitter mayhem”.
Welford Sibbertoft and Sulby Endowed Primary School | Alice George | Northamptonshire, UK | Students made fabulous self-portraits out of scrap materials. They also took photographs of each other and turned the images into side-profile silhouettes.
Weston Favell Primary School | Kelly Rich | Northamptonshire, UK | This artwork is dedicated to the inspirational headteacher Mrs Jill Ramshaw. She ensures that all staff, children, and people in the wider community are cared for and given opportunities to do their best. Her silhouette is the centrepiece for the artwork because she inspires so many children and adults throughout Northampton and beyond. The students highlighted that a 'river of hope' is very relevant in these difficult times. The school welcomes refugees and wants everyone to feel safe and secure. They also have an Eco Council to promote care for the environment and hope for the world around us.
William Fletcher Primary School | Deborah Nind & Rosemarie Staniland | Oxfordshire, UK | William Fletcher is a Rights Respecting School, and as a part of this project the children explored Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – ‘all children have the right to drink clean water’. The children learnt about the need to work together to keep our waters clean. The whole school took part in the project, with each class producing a flag, but the youngest children’s design was selected!
William Lovell Academy | Emily Cartwright | Boston, UK | Students studied the spiritual significance of the Bagmati River in Kathmandu. They looked at Paubha art and then made a simplified Paubha design with a central ‘creature’ and a surrounding pattern. The creatures and patterns were chosen to reflect the river and the ecosystems that support it. The artworks were made by creating a three-layered papercut with a coloured tissue paper background, which was then photographed in front of a light box. The silhouette is of William Lovell – a historical figure who first established the school.
Woodbridge Park Education Service | Joan Wren | Hounslow, UK | Students got creative with a vast selection of materials, including dried pasta and pumpkin seeds! They each made their own model and then worked together to make a background resembling the different layers of the earth.
Woodchurch High School | Adam Sadiq | Liverpool, UK | Students looked at Asia, exploring the Ganges, Mekong, Yangtze and Euphrates 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.
Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys | Shona Watt | Greenwich, UK | Plastic is universally acknowledged as a problem for rivers across the world. A less familiar source of pollution, fat, became common knowledge in 2019 when a 40 tonne ‘fatberg’ was discovered blocking the sewers in Greenwich. The fatberg weighed the same as 3 London buses and comprised of cooking fat, wet wipes and other materials being flushed down the loo. It took Thames Water weeks to remove and now a piece is on permanent display at the Museum of London. Students used collage to explore the horrors of the fatberg and the negative effects of non-biodegradable materials on our sewers. Their inspirational person is, South London born, David Bowie.
Ysgol Tir Morfa | Fran Hoare | Wales, UK | Beautiful birds soaring above fabulous fish! Students chose blue as the background colour to represent both the sky and the sea. They also wanted to include a silhouette of the Welsh Dragon, as it is the symbol of Wales.
Tarun Ma Vi Secondary School | Kailash Shrestha | Nepal | The entire artwork is made from plastic that the children have used themselves. The artwork is a comment on contemporary human behaviour that poses a threat to the natural world. The blue background represents water, and the humans have been created with junk to reflect the idea that our behaviour causes river pollution. The children also wanted to get across the idea that waste can be re-imagined by upcycling it.
Teesside High School | BloomInArt | Tees Valley, UK | Year 9 and 10 students from Teesside High explored their relationship to nature and environmental landscapes. From individual research and sketchbook work, pupils created we felted landscapes with embroidered embellishment. Their chosen hero was class member Holly Smith who is a young environmental activist and is the central focus in their design.
The Abbey School | Emily Kelly | Berkshire, UK | Superimposed images of natural forms! Students experimented with different techniques to recreate shapes, patterns and colours seen in nature.
The Blue Coat School | Robbie Newman | Birmingham, UK | Pupils were encouraged to explore the theme of rivers through a variety of mixed media. They worked independently, making excellent use of recycled and natural materials, such as scrap paper, wrapping and packaging, newspaper, leaves, tree bark, pebbles and more!
The City School - Iqbal Campus Sialkot | Syeda Abeer Ali | Pakistan | Students wanted to create something meaningful and beautiful out of waste. They learnt that sea turtles and other marine creatures mistake plastics as food, which blocks their digestive system and can cause them to die. Students crafted their artwork from plastic bags, bottles, straws and other scrap items, to highlight the devastating issue of plastic pollution.
The Eveline Day School | Alice Markes | Greater London, UK | For homework over one weekend, the children had the task of collecting natural materials from their walks with family and friends. The range of what was brought in was fantastic! Each class then created their chosen fish using the materials they had gathered, such as branches, leaves, seeds, seashells, berries and flowers.
The Halley Academy | Shona Watt | Greenwich, UK | Students from the Halley Academy explored the rich history of gold, specifically crowns from Ghana. Using a mixture of recycled cardboard and mixed ‘gold’ and jewel-like materials, they created their individual crowns. Their inspirational figure is, South Londoner, Cynthia Erivo.
The London Nautical School | Shona Watt | Lambeth, UK | Boys from the famous London Nautical School used recycled foils to create medals. The boys chose themes relating to the Thames or the sea, made drawings of their ideas and embossed them into metal, adding gems, decorative edging and drawings of ribbons. The inspirational person (top right) is ex pupil, Arsenal footballer, Reiss Nelson.
The Mountbatten School, Hampshire, UK & Vikas Bharati Public School, India | Megan Roodt & Tracy Lyons | During the first part of the project, student at the Mountbatten School visited their local river at Tadburn Meadows to investigate the features of the landscape. They were particularly shocked to see a water pollution event first-hand due to an oil spill from a local industrial site. Using information provided by students at the Mountbatten School, students at Vikas Bahrati School then designed super-creatures that would protect the river! Designs from both schools can be seen in the final piece.
The Premier Academy | Jonathan Harris | Milton Keynes, UK | This artwork has been created collaboratively by children from England, Palestine and India. Inspiration came from the theme of keeping our rivers clean. The work included painting using watercolours, sculpting clay, sewing, drawing and creating designs in 2D and 3D. All children created work using their own ideas, rather than it being teacher-led. Nishant (student): “My main aim for this project was to show how we can use garbage to make beautiful things.”
The Priory Ruskin Academy | Rachel Quine | Lincolnshire, UK | Students used seeds to make scales for their fish. They arranged the fish in a circular pattern and placed them over an image of rippling water.
The Roman Ridge School | Valerie Mainoo | Ghana | The Volta River is the main river system in Ghana. Students identified their favourite part of the river, as well as the thing they most wanted to change. They designed super-creatures with special powers that would help to protect the Volta!
The Royal Liberty School | Lisa Stuchfield | London, UK | Students explored the different stages of the river, taking a geographical journey downstream, looking at features such as V-shaped valleys, meanders and estuaries. The heroes they designed have specific adaptations to protect the fragile ecosystems at each of these stages. Students pondered the journey of the river through its life cycle and linked it to the journey that the Queen has taken from the early years of her reign to now.
Thomas Cowley High School | Emily Cartwright | Boston, UK | Students discussed the beauty of biodiversity, as well as the sad reality of declines in biodiversity across the world. They used origami to make different kinds of animals and then photographed their creations under different levels of light, forming interesting shadows. The installation was made using entirely reclaimed materials to fit with the environmental message. In the top right corner is a silhouette of Thomas Cowley – a historical figure who gifted buildings and land in his will for the purpose of the school.
Thomas's Fulham | Ruth Swailes | Greater London, UK | Students turned to Japanese artist, Yusei Nagashima, for inspiration. They looked at different species and each drew their own fish. Each fish may be just as unique as ourselves, but despite their diversity they swim together in one shoal, signifying the collective effort it will take from humanity to guard and protect our rivers, the life within them, and the clean water that brings life to our planet.
Thornleigh Salesian College | Stephanie Tattersall | Bolton, UK | Students chose to highlight the importance of local wildlife within our rivers. Their artwork is centred around the carp, a fish that lives in the Thames. Each fish is decorated with a unique design, and they are arranged in a circular pattern to represent the circle of life.
Thornton Primary School | Katie Biddle Rawbone | West Midlands, UK | This artwork includes fabulous illustrations of fish, as well 3D models of fish made from found natural objects. The background colours reflect the shades of blue and green that can be found in and around rivers.
Tilney All Saints C of E Primary School | Dawn Liddle | Norfolk, UK | Students made their own sculptures of fish. They engraved their sculptures to add detail, and placed them over a backdrop of rolling waves to resemble a ‘River of Hope’.
Tredegar Comprehensive School | Leanne Greenway | Wales, UK | Inspired by the beautiful colours found in nature, students researched different underwater environments and came across tropical flowers, sea turtles, shells and coral. They also looked at Hawaiian artists to help them produce their own natural forms and designs.
Tudor Grange Academy | Claire Mills | Worcestershire, UK | Students researched ‘life below water’ in the River Severn – the river with the most voluminous flow of water in all of England and Wales. Alongside this, they investigated the River Jhelum in Pakistan and the many different ways in which it supports people and the environment.
Weilenbrink School | Charlotte Kelly | Germany | This project involved the Year 2 class at Weilenbrink Schule, Bochum, Germany. Bochum belongs to the heart of the Ruhr region, the Ruhrgebiet, stretching from Duisburg to Dortmund. The children chose a silhouette of the local waterways as the head of the stamp. Making this artwork brought the class together with a common love of painting in blue and white (Bochum’s colours) and the chaos and joy of “glitter mayhem”.
Welford Sibbertoft and Sulby Endowed Primary School | Alice George | Northamptonshire, UK | Students made fabulous self-portraits out of scrap materials. They also took photographs of each other and turned the images into side-profile silhouettes.
Weston Favell Primary School | Kelly Rich | Northamptonshire, UK | This artwork is dedicated to the inspirational headteacher Mrs Jill Ramshaw. She ensures that all staff, children, and people in the wider community are cared for and given opportunities to do their best. Her silhouette is the centrepiece for the artwork because she inspires so many children and adults throughout Northampton and beyond. The students highlighted that a 'river of hope' is very relevant in these difficult times. The school welcomes refugees and wants everyone to feel safe and secure. They also have an Eco Council to promote care for the environment and hope for the world around us.
William Fletcher Primary School | Deborah Nind & Rosemarie Staniland | Oxfordshire, UK | William Fletcher is a Rights Respecting School, and as a part of this project the children explored Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – ‘all children have the right to drink clean water’. The children learnt about the need to work together to keep our waters clean. The whole school took part in the project, with each class producing a flag, but the youngest children’s design was selected!
William Lovell Academy | Emily Cartwright | Boston, UK | Students studied the spiritual significance of the Bagmati River in Kathmandu. They looked at Paubha art and then made a simplified Paubha design with a central ‘creature’ and a surrounding pattern. The creatures and patterns were chosen to reflect the river and the ecosystems that support it. The artworks were made by creating a three-layered papercut with a coloured tissue paper background, which was then photographed in front of a light box. The silhouette is of William Lovell – a historical figure who first established the school.
Woodbridge Park Education Service | Joan Wren | Hounslow, UK | Students got creative with a vast selection of materials, including dried pasta and pumpkin seeds! They each made their own model and then worked together to make a background resembling the different layers of the earth.
Woodchurch High School | Adam Sadiq | Liverpool, UK | Students looked at Asia, exploring the Ganges, Mekong, Yangtze and Euphrates 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.
Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys | Shona Watt | Greenwich, UK | Plastic is universally acknowledged as a problem for rivers across the world. A less familiar source of pollution, fat, became common knowledge in 2019 when a 40 tonne ‘fatberg’ was discovered blocking the sewers in Greenwich. The fatberg weighed the same as 3 London buses and comprised of cooking fat, wet wipes and other materials being flushed down the loo. It took Thames Water weeks to remove and now a piece is on permanent display at the Museum of London. Students used collage to explore the horrors of the fatberg and the negative effects of non-biodegradable materials on our sewers. Their inspirational person is, South London born, David Bowie.
Ysgol Tir Morfa | Fran Hoare | Wales, UK | Beautiful birds soaring above fabulous fish! Students chose blue as the background colour to represent both the sky and the sea. They also wanted to include a silhouette of the Welsh Dragon, as it is the symbol of Wales.
200 Winning Flag Designs (Alphabetical by School)
River of Hope is supported by:
River of Hope is a Thames Festival Trust programme delivered in partnership with the British Council