Students thoroughly enjoyed the visit.
‘We warmed up by playing games and talked about how to compose poems. We read a really emotional poem and afterwards wrote a line in a similar style. It was a fun experience’. Isabella, 7R
‘The writing aspect was great, especially when we wrote about our mums and how cool they are. The ending was fun when we rapped our names to introduce ourselves’. Tanzila, 7C
‘We were able to incorporate different types of poetry such as rap and rhyme. Not only this, but we did many exercises that I found really fun’. Juliette, 7M
‘We played a game to introduce us to the poet and then the poetry started. I honestly thought it would be a bunch of Shakespeare and something about losing a loved one, but it was a poem called Yo Mama. Turns out it was very moving! We then wrote our own Mama poems and analysed others. The poetry workshop was utterly worth it.’ Bibi, 7T
‘I enjoyed learning about how ideas for poems can come from everyday things. I enjoyed how Arji helped everyone with their poems.' Flora, 8C
‘I enjoyed the poetry workshop because of how it allowed us to explore different styles and express ourselves on paper. I think creating a poem opens up what you are as a person. It was a fun workshop and showed us that poems aren’t just pieces of paper but have meaning and depth in every word.’ Humairah, 8C
‘We started off with him telling us about poetry in different cultures. We found out poetry is widely practised all over the world and has deep roots in many cultures, like in Iran, poetry is casually recited in conversation and in Somalia, poetry has been an important part of the culture. We then played some fun games and moved on to reading some poetry. The poet showed us one of his own poems called “Monkey” which was inspired by his own interaction in a pub where somebody shouted “Monkey” to him. The poem is about a monkey smashing up a pub in response to racism. We then had our own go at writing a poem; we had to write about an animal in a place doing something in protest of an issue. My poem was about a mouse in Parliament fighting for rights for children of war, but he has a very small voice, so nobody listens to him. Overall, everyone really enjoyed the workshop, and it was a great opportunity to share poetry and learn more about it.' Sajidah, 9T
The visit was organised and funded by the Poetry Society, and we are very grateful to them for giving our students this wonderful opportunity.
Angie Fearnside
Head of English
