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Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

Winners

In January 2023, we invited schools across the UK to take part in an exciting competition to mark the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III.

Children and young people from hundreds of schools across the UK designed their own illustrated Coronation benches, exploring the values that are important to them as we enter the reign of King Charles.

Fifteen winners were selected from more than 1,500 fantastic entries, to be brought to life by professional artists from global public art producers Wild in Art.

This emblem, in red and royal blue, shows the flora of the four nations of the United Kingdom: the rose for England, the thistle for Scotland, the daffodil for Wales and the shamrock for Northern Ireland. The circular design features a floral crown in the centre encircled by the four nations flowers. The outer perimeter of the emblem reads "King Charles III Coronation 6th May 2023".

This emblem features an open design where the flowers outlines show areas of white space. See asset no. 63068 for a red and royal blue emblem in a block colour design.

The sculptures shared some insight into the values and symbols chosen by today’s young people to define the new era, with themes ranging from unity and peace to resilience, kindness and care for the environment.

The winning benches remained onsite at the Tower of London throughout the summer of 2023, before being gifted to the winning schools as a lasting legacy of the Coronation. The winning bench for Northern Ireland was displayed at Hillsborough Castle and Gardens.

View the winning designs here and find out more about each one.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

Alderwood Senior School, Aldershot, Hampshire

This bench was created by the Year 7 Art Club at Alderwood Senior School. The students chose to combine themes of royalty and the natural world in their design, as King Charles III is known for his passion for the environment.

Blythefield Primary School, Belfast

The whole school immersed themselves in the design process for the Blythefield bench. They chose different flowers to represent the Commonwealth nations as well as the importance of protecting the world’s natural habitats. They also represented countries specific to the children who attend the school: the costus spectabili for Nigeria; the hibiscus for Malaysia and the waterlily for Bangladesh.

Coronation Benches at The Tower of London

Booker Avenue Infant School, Liverpool

The whole school came together for this project, to create their vision of what they wanted their Coronation bench to represent. They considered their school’s ethos ‘the more we know the more we grow’ and chose a tree to symbolise their hopes for the future.

Broomfield School, London

Key Stage 3 students at Broomfield chose trees to represent life and growth and to symbolise the value in all of us as each leaf is needed to create the whole tree.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

Corpus Christi Primary School, Glasgow

Students from Corpus Christi Primary School designed a cherry blossom tree in bloom to symbolise growth and new beginnings as the United Kingdom celebrates the Coronation of King Charles III.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

Dacre Braithwaite Primary School, Harrogate

Dacre Braithwaite’s design was created by their Coronation Art Club, formed by students in Years 2-6. The children were inspired by King Charles’ first Christmas speech.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

Foreland Fields School, Ramsgate, Kent

As a class of children with Special Educational Needs, the students at Forelands Fields wanted their design to reflect a core school value: inclusion. They wanted to show that people of all abilities and backgrounds should be included in the Coronation celebrations and that they are important for the future.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

Fulwell Junior School, Sunderland

Fulwell Junior School’s design is based on four values which they chose to reflect the history of the royal family whilst capturing the children’s hopes for the future and the school’s own values: aspiration, resilience, unity and renewal.

Coronation Benches at The Tower of London

Llanishen High School, Cardiff

Llanishen High School’s design reflects the school ethos of inclusion by using the flags and national flowers of the UK’s four nations. As hearing-impaired students, the children felt this was important to be reflected throughout the whole design.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

Loughton School, Milton Keynes

Loughton School’s Year 3 students worked together to explore some of the challenges the UK is currently facing, and linked these to the values they would like to represent the coming era of a new British monarch.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

Milnthorpe Primary School, Cumbria

The Year 4 class at Milnthorpe wanted their design to celebrate the diversity of the world’s people and landscapes. Bright illustrations of people are depicted alongside scenes of cities, countryside and seaside.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

Moorlands Primary School, Huddersfield

Year 5 students worked collaboratively to explore themes of community, the Commonwealth, the environment and the monarchy. A tree is used to represent new beginnings as the crown passes to King Charles III.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

Slade Primary School, Tonbridge, Kent

The group of children who created Slade Primary School’s design called themselves ‘Unity’ and wanted this to be the value reflected by their ‘living bench’. The nature theme was inspired by the school’s active forest school, garden and allotment which promote positive wellbeing.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

St Mary's College, Hull

As Design and Technology students, the pupils who designed this bench chose to highlight the value of skills such as art, music, electronics, writing, computing and dance.

Coronation Benches at the Tower of London for the Tower of London Schools Coronation Competition

The Blue Coat School, Birmingham

The school’s technology, engineering and design (TED) students wanted their design to celebrate the diversity of the people that make up the UK. They included people of different age, gender, race and religion within the silhouette of King Charles.

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