Peace Prize for Claudia’s Poppies

Prep 2 Claudia Joarder  has been awarded first prize in a nationwide art competition.  Encouraged by the RS department, Claudia entered a competition organised by the Islam Society of Britain, in which children were asked to show what peace means to them through either a poem or a painting. Mrs Sarah Strong said, “We were studying Islam children and this competition fitted in with our work.” Claudia’s beautiful and very mature painting of a girl surrounded by a field of poppies was overwhelmingly voted the key stage 2 winner from 1000 entries by the panel of judges. Vice President of the Islam Society of Britain, Mrs Julie Siddiqui visited the School on Friday 8 February to present Claudia with her prize – a Kindle – and to talk to the Prep School pupils  about peace and how they had to believe in the possibility of peace.   She said that the competition had attracted a lot of very strong entries, but the judges were unanimous in their choice: they kept on coming back to “the poppy picture.”  Claudia, who had been unaware that she had won the prize until her name was announced in assembly, said that she painted her picture close to Remembrance Day and was aware of the significance of the poppy as a sign of peace, “the girl in the picture is meant to be me!”