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Bow School turns Dragons Den
17 June 2008
On Thursday 17th June, Bow School welcomed Tower Hamlets Councillor, Ahmed Omer, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets, and Councillor Azizur Khan. The two councillors acted as judges, or dragons, in a ‘Dragons Den’ style mural competition.
This term, the boys of Year 8 have been working together and competing with each other in Citizenship and Art to design a 21st century logo for Tower Hamlets as part of a cross-curricular school project with the guidance and support of London Citizens. On Thursday the boys entered the den to pitch their ideas to five dragons. The dragons were the two councillors; Hayley Clark, the school librarian; Ben Hammond from London Citizens and Moustafa Mohamed, a Year 10 student.
The dragons gave the boys their eyes and ears in judging and discussing their work. They were originally going to choose six from the 11 pitches to be used as part of a public art exhibition on Parmiter Street in Bethnal Green ending on Wednesday 1st July. However, they were so impressed with the boys’ presentations that they decided to take all eleven designs. Ben Hammond from London Citizens said: “I don’t care what it takes; I am so impressed that I will ensure that all of these logos are part of the exhibition.”
During the project the boys were asked to consider the importance of a logo and how it could represent a greater concept by studying popular examples. They were then asked to design a new logo for the Borough that incorporated three explicit elements of Tower Hamlets: its proud history, its celebration of diversity and its entrepreneurial spirit. From their logos the boys then wrote speeches to act as part of their pitch to the dragons. This became their design brief and gave the boys an opportunity to enhance their skills as successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens. The winning designs and speeches can be seen here and will form part of the exhibition on Parmiter Street.
Akira Biedron (8O) and Daniel Robertson (8W)
Hussein Thoah (8O)
Samad Ahmed (8O)
Samad Ahmed Speech 8O
I have a dream.
I have a dream that one day our community will be represented by a logo that does us justice. I believe that there are many more colours to Tower Hamlets than the Blue and Green of the old logo. Yes, these are the colours of our past, the earth and water of the river; however, from the fertile soil has grown something much more wonderful.
I believe that we are no longer a community named and judged by its close location to the Tower of London. We are a community of excellence; we are a community of academic progress; we are a community of love.
I believe that we have grown into a community rich in history, proud of diversity and full of entrepreneurial spirit.
I believe all that has a beginning has an end and I am very happy to say that we have just begun. We will evolve; we must; we have. And from this ongoing evolution great things will continue to grow.
This is our moment.
This is our time.
This is my logo.
Daniel Robertson Speech (8W) (to match Akira’s logo)
I believe that that the Tower Hamlets logo should represent more than our history; that one day our logo will embody the community’s friendship, thriving entrepreneurial spirit and the different and diverse religious beliefs that the Borough celebrates.
I believe it should show-off the modern Tower Hamlets: our thriving business, our diverse culture, our splendid history.
This logo shows the many races and religions in Tower Hamlets, including Judaism, Islam and Christianity and people with roots in Bangladesh, India, Africa and Britain, that all come together to make up our Borough.
However, to move forward we must build on the past and it is important to remember our history, therefore we have included The Tower of London. We should not forget these fragments of our past because it is this that has moulded what Tower Hamlets is today, which again our logo represents.
Our logo also has a modern look, to show off the 21st century modern ethos of the Borough. It shows an example of our business tradition with Canary Wharf. It looks ten times better than the last one. It represents all of Tower Hamlets, not just the past.
We are all united as a Borough of London and a part of Britain. A part that Britain itself should be most proud of, as we are. Our pride is captured in this logo.
This is what my partner and I believe and you should too!