Local students show gold standard creative skills to wish Tokyo Games athletes good fortune

Year 6 pupils in London Bridge and Walworth have been celebrating the start of the Tokyo Olympics by constructing enormous Koi Fish lanterns.

Students from Snowsfields, Tower Bridge and Robert Browning Primary Schools (all part of The Bridges Federation) fashioned their beautiful creations from sustainable bamboo and tissue paper, with help from online workshops by artist Helen Harrison and their amazing Year 6 teachers. Each fish is unique thanks to the imagination of the children who worked together in small teams. Here are some snaps capturing the creative process!

In Japan, the meaning of Koi Fish is good fortune or luck, they also are associated with perseverance in adversity and strength of purpose – and this is just what these children and their teachers demonstrated!

This project was a lovely way to close the school year as our usual Christmas lantern parade around London Bridge with the children and their seasonal creations was cancelled last winter due to Covid restrictions. It was supported by Team London Bridge, the area’s Business Improvement District, which works towards creating a more connected and thriving community.