Brambletye, Lochinver House shine at creative competition

Brambletye, a prep school in West Sussex, has won the prize for the Outstanding School’s Contribution to Art competition at Haileybury’s Prep and Primary Schools’ Art and Creative Writing Competition 2011, while Lochinver House in Hertfordshire won the Outstanding School’s Contribution in the Creative Writing section of the competition. This year’s theme was "Africa".

Overall Winner of the Art Competition was Georgina Walker (Brambletye) whilst the Overall Winner of the Creative Writing Competition was Nicholas Jackson (Lochinver House).

A special Master’s Choice Award was presented to Georgina Ward from Brambletye.

Haileybury’s Art Department received more than 1,000 entries for the competition, while the English Department received more than 300, both of which were a huge increase on previous years.

Children’s author Beverley Birch and Kenyan artist Mercy Kagia judged the finalists in each competition, selecting the overall age category and competition winners, and both were the guests of honour at the Art and Creative Writing Awards Ceremony and Exhibition, held last Saturday at Haileybury and attended by 500 prep and primary school children, parents and teachers. The Haileybury Prep and Primary Schools’ Art Competition was first established in 2002 to give pupils from a wide variety of junior schools across the country the chance to express themselves creatively. In 2007, the Creative Writing element was introduced with great success, and numbers and the standard of entries have increased each year.

Haileybury’s Head of English, Nigel Parkin, declared this the best year yet in terms of the quality of entries. "Pupils were clearly inspired by the vastness and richness of the subject of Africa. A stunning range of poetry and prose was offered: trickster tales; exciting narratives highlighting the confrontation of man and beast; beautiful descriptions of landscapes and wildlife; profound reflections on conflict, poverty and suffering.

"Guided by expert and passionate teachers, pupils had clearly been thoroughly immersed in their explorations, emerging with a real sense of empathy and with a heightened moral, cultural, spiritual and even political awareness."

A full list of winners includes:

ART COMP

YEARS 3 – 4

Winner – Guy Lane (Hereward House)
Runner-Up – Thomas Hendrie (St Aubyn’s)
Third Place – Yasmin Jenkins (Duncombe)

YEARS 5 – 6

Winner – Hope Finegold (Brambletye)
Runner-Up – Anna Hastie (Cheam)
Third Place – Jeffrey Tooze (Kingshott)

YEARS 7 – 8

Winner – Georgina Walker (Brambletye)
Runner-Up – Dylan Cox (Kingshott)
Third Place – Andrew Chung (Elstree)

OVERALL

Drawing Prize – Andrew Chung (Elstree)
Highly Commended – Xanthe Nathan (Brambletye)
Master’s Award – Georgina Ward (Brambletye)
Overall Winner – Georgina Walker (Brambletye)
Outstanding School’s Contribution to Art Competition – Brambletye

CREATIVE WRITING COMP

YEARS 3 – 4

Winner – Alexandra Honeyman (Duncombe)
Runner-Up – Tom Scott (Kingshott)
Third Place – Henry Tripp (Edge Grove)

YEARS 5 – 6

Winner – Nicholas Jackson (Lochinver House)
Runner-Up – Robbie Cartwright (Gayhurst)
Third Place – Georgie Pitman (Heath Mount)

YEARS 7 – 8

Winner – Marcus Kang (St Martin’s, Northwood)
Runner-Up – Anyalemma Igwe (Kingshott)
Third Place – Teresa MacNab (Oratory Prep)

OVERALL

Overall Winner – Nicholas Jackson (Lochinver House)
Outstanding School’s Contribution to Art Competition – Lochinver House