A PRIMARY school art competition now in its third year, prizes were awarded on Friday, March 29, for a schools’ art competition, which this tear had the theme of “Industries of the Forest.”.

All primary and junior schools in the Forest area were invited to engage with the Rotary Club of the Royal Forest of Dean competition.

Rotarian John Belcher, for many years an art teacher in Forest schools, said: “There was a junior competition for years Years Three and Four, and a senior competition for years Years Five and Six.

“Each school was invited to submit up to eight entries for each category, with the option to enter both. The quality of the children’s work was high and has definitely made the effort worthwhile.”

“Each drawing or painting was presented on an A4 sheet of paper and many of the entries depicted familiar scenes of industry from the Forest, including wood cutting, railway tracks, and iconic images  of works on the Sculpture Trail.”

All junior and primary schools in the Forest of Dean were contacted in the autumn of 2018, including all those with a phone dialling code of 01594.  16 schools agreed to take part, including the schools at Berry Hill, Blakeney, Coalway, Lydbrook, Lydney, Primrose Hill, Ruardean, St White’s, Woolaston, and Yorkley. 

In the junior category, first place went to Oliver Gilbert of Berry Hill School who received a £50 voucher. Runner-up was Faith Thomas of St. White’s School and highly commended were Lola Davies and William Roberts of Lydbrook School. The overall winning school was Ruardean, and the runner-up was Lydbrook. 

In the Senior category, first place was awarded to Chloe Burke of Yorkley School who also received a £50 voucher. Runner-up was Bethan Hewitt of Primrose Hill School; highly commended were Eartha Tissington of Primrose Hill, Indi Corpjijn of Coalway School, and Connie Reeves of Lydney School. The overall winning school in this category was Lydbrook, and the runner-up was Coalway.

Special prizes were awarded to Jacob Jones of Woolaston School and Bree Harley of Blakeney School for producing interesting work that didn’t comply with the competition rules. 

All submitted artists received £10 vouchers and category winners were presented with their prizes by Rotary President Ed Gaffney. The schools submitting artwork also received prizes for their participation. 

Quotes 

Committee chair, Rotarian James Bevan, said, “It is very satisfying to see the degree of engagement in this important project, and we can already sense the long-term benefit this competition will have on the children who participated.” 

“The relationship with our community in the Forest of Dean is very important to this Rotary club, and we try to support constructive projects whenever we can. In this case we were aware that schools, under pressure from other parts of the syllabus, were tending to reduce their support for art activities.”