‘School is cool’ art contest

One of NZ’s largest online art competitions, School Is Cool, has been launched to showcase artwork from children in ECEs and primary schools across the country.

The competition, sponsored by NZEI’s magazine Education Aotearoa, celebrates New Zealand’s public education system – inviting teachers and students to identify and talk about what they like about school.  

Education Aotearoa editor Jane Blaikie says New Zealand’s education system is  ranked 5th in the world with only two OECD and two non-OECD countries rating higher than New Zealand on the internationally-moderated PISA assessments.

“We want to let parents and school communities know just how well we do, and to inspire parents, teachers and students to speak up, start talking about the achievements of the system, and how it can move from great – which it is now – to excellent,” she says.

Competition judges are award-winning children’s author and illustrator Gavin Bishop, and Wellington art teacher Gretchen Buwalda.

Schools can upload their competition entries to www.schooliscool.org.nz. The competition will be judged across 10 categories: one for early childhood, one each for years 1-8, and one for digital entries.  Prizes have been sponsored by Edtech and individual winners will each receive an iPod Touch. 

Entries can be from an individual or a group and can be submitted as either a poster, up to A3 size, or a digital entry (maximum of two minutes in length).

The competition closes on June 30th, 2011, with winners announced on July 29th.