Jubilee Celebration Preparations:

The River of Hope

The whole school has been busy researching and reflecting upon the importance of water within our environment as part of the build up to the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations. Chevening has entered a collaborative art initiative involving many schools across the country as well as abroad. 

Our younger children have worked hard together to make a beautiful river installation on the grassy bank adjacent to Class 2. It is a lovely addition to our community space where we ‘sing in the valleys’. The installation draws inspiration from our Christian values, as well as reflection about how amazing water and creation are.

The KS2 classes have each produced artwork reflecting an aspect of water within the design brief of the competition. There are some lovely creative responses. Perhaps you can spot some of the silhouettes of our Courageous Advocates in each picture? You can find more information from the organisers here… https://thamesfestivaltrust.org/river-of-hope/

Here is some of the information submitted for the competition: 

At Chevening , we are fortunate to have the River Darent flowing through our village which feeds some beautiful lakes supporting wonderful wildlife. We are also only an hour away from the banks of the Thames River via train. As a school, our silhouettes on our Rivers of Hope Artworks are of people we consider to be Courageous Advocates, who supported and served others, often not be able to do so for themselves. You might be able to spot David Attenborough, Malala Yousafzai, Nelson Mandela, Jonas Salk, as well as H.M. Queen Elizabeth II. Each class researched the use of water and the environment; and then chose to respond to the information in their own way. Below is a description of the work created by each class:

Early Years:
Here you can see a joint piece by the Early Years and Infant children at Chevening CEP who loved painting stones to make their own River of Hope installation, cascading down a grassy bank leading to the classrooms. Many of the stones have our Christian values painted on them. Can you spot the values in the pictures? The children loved making this beautiful addition to the area outside.  Their Courageous Advocate Silhouette is of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, as she is the head of our country; leads it in such a responsible way, and demonstrates a deep care for the environment. She is a great leader epitomising service in leadership of both country and church. We also made it, simply because we wanted to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee!

Class 3:
This artwork has been created by Class 3 as a study of different blues, and in celebration of water. The children reused straws in order to make this colourful effect in their River of Hope design.  Their Courageous Advocate Silhouette is Nelson Mandela because he worked hard to reunite South Africa, such a beautiful country, which had many divisions. It is a country full of colour and diversity – with very person to be valued just as we value precious water.

Class 4:
Here you can see photographs of installations made by Class 4. They were very keen to draw attention to the importance of looking after our environment and collected the ring pulls in order to reuse and then recycle them. Class 4 are very concerned about pollution and reversing the damage caused to our waterways when not cared for properly. Their Courageous Advocate Silhouette is Malala Yousafzai, as she works hard to make the world a better and more equal place; one with greater freedom and access to education for all – irrespective of gender, race or social circumstances. Education should be for all, just as should be the right to clean water.

Class 5:
Our River of Hope design came about after we had carried out research into water use. Class 5 looked at the natural occurrence of water, as well as how communities use it. The class then wanted to communicate the feelings, locations, sounds and beauty of water using words written within the droplets.  Their Courageous Advocate Silhouette is Jonas Salk, since he worked hard to rid the world of some terrible diseases and wanted the vaccines to be available to all – just as we hope for access to water for all. Jonas did not patent the vaccine against polio and we think access to water is a basic human right that should not be controlled by others.

Class 6:
This River of Hope artwork is designed to show the beauty of water and the variety of ways in which we may see it due to its reflective qualities. Collage and other media have been used to show this – along with a rousing call to ‘Clean the Oceans’ at the base and foundation of the piece. The Courageous Advocate Silhouette used in this piece is of David Attenborough, due the amazing work he does to inform and connect us with the beauty of our world: on the land, in the air, and also in the rivers and seas. He does so much to help us to appreciate this wonderful, fragile and unique planet we live on. May we seek to protect and care for it now and in the future.

We hope you enjoyed our submissions to the River of Hope.