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During Virtual School our students have been creating entries for the Global Campus Visual Arts Competition. Take a look at our Highly Commended pieces and our final entries.
This year’s Global Campus Visual Arts Competition provided students at the British International School HCMC with the opportunity to build on their understanding of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which celebrated its 30th Anniversary in November. As a school, we celebrated this anniversary on World Children’s Day with Wellbeing lessons created by the Global Goals Club for Year 7 on the theme of child rights. At the time, Year 7 had the chance to illustrate the convention of their choice, which has also formed the theme for this year’s Global Campus Visual Arts Competition.
In January, Key Stage 3 students were asked by their Art teachers to consider their rights as children, and identify which of the UNCRC Articles most resonated with them. They then selected a medium in which to produce a piece of art that depicted their chosen theme. The 54 articles cover all aspects of child rights including how governments, UNICEF, and other organisations work to ensure that these are upheld by all of the countries who have signed up to the convention:
The articles can be split into 5 important themes:
The Right to be Heard and Taken Seriously
The Right to be Treated Fairly
The Right to an Education
The Right to Play
The Right to Live and Develop Healthily
Despite being launched during Virtual School, BIS students have risen to this challenge and really thought about their rights to produce some beautiful pieces of artwork across a range of mediums. We have had the tough decision of choosing our favourite entries; as a school we are only able to submit one entry per age group to the final Global Campus Competition. It has been a challenge to decide on our final submissions, yet we are delighted to announce both our Global Campus Visual Arts Competition Finalists and a few Highly Commended student pieces. We’re incredibly impressed with all of the entries and proud of all of our students for considering the UNCRC.
Description: I have decided that I want to deliver my message on article 22 through this piece. There are many elements incorporated in this work. You can see the two different colored hands holding a rope and attempting to restrain the child: this is a portrayal of “From the Desk of Dennis Spain: Standing on Heaven while living on Earth” saying that the better good (Heaven) is out of reach for them if the corruption on Earth keeps on existing. You will see vines circling and tightening around the two hands along with the Marionette hand controller: these vines can be depicted as people who are aiding these children and fighting for their rights. The hand that is situated on the child’s stomach is disposing of words and vanquishing their opinion (the lips), along with the gun being stopped by the ring that encircles the child’s waist. The crumbling mask shows the child’s fear is slowly crumbling away revealing the memory of the war, and signifies that the child is no longer afraid of those memories, but rather displaying it and speaking up, battling for their rights.
Description: Children. They are the future of our world — the decision makers of our tomorrow. Unfortunately, many experience heart-wrenching pain daily as they are forced to partake in monstrous, bloodshed battles. This drawing is meant to represent the 38th right of a child: “You have the right to protection ... or take part in war.” It shows the heart-wrenching pain a child has to go through when they are forced to partake in such horrible acts as it is extremely wrong for them to experience this trauma at a young age.
Description: I’ve chosen article 35 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Prevention of sale and trafficking as an inspiration for my illustration. The background of this illustration is a child being found, after trying to escape. (Was it the police who found them? Or was it the kidnapper? I’ll let you decide)
I’ve drawn wings on the child since I wanted to portray the child as an angelic character, but the wings aren’t fully developed because they’re still young. So even if they want to escape in situations like this, they won’t be able to.
The building at the back shows that this illustration is actually happening in an urban area. Child trafficking happens all around us, but we’re not aware of it.
Description: This piece depicts the “inevitable” journey of the Syrian refugees from the borders of Syria into other Mediterranean countries due to the ongoing Syrian war as they have no choice. The bare feet are suggestive of how vulnerable they are. The legs of the child amidst all the adults represents the vulnerability of many such children in the face of violence and upheaval. The muslin cloth moulded into the map of the Mediterranean is suggestive of the exhausting struggles of their journey.
Congratulations to our two finalists Sejal and Hannah. A panel of judges, including representatives from UNICEF, will be choosing the winning entries from across our 66 schools which will be exhibited at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Thank you to the Art department for running this competition virtually and to all of the students who submitted entries!
Ms Lauren Binnington
Assistant Head Teacher
Regional UNICEF Lead for South East Asia and the Middle East
Joining BIS HCMC in Foundation Stage 2 (F2) is a fantastic age to begin a lifetime love for learning, encouraged and nurtured by our experienced and committed class and specialist teachers, who personalise learning unique to every child. We look back at what our F2s have experienced in less than one term already at BIS HCMC.
We are incredibly proud of our Year 11 class of 2024, for their impressive IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) results. This incredible cohort of 155 students, our largest IGCSE class in the history of the school, have significantly surpassed UK and international averages and were awarded 97% of all grades at A*-C. An incredible 62% of all grades awarded were at A*-A.