Young people from the Sunnydale Campus of Greenfield Community College thrilled staff and parents with powerful recitals of poetry on the evening of Thursday 25th February.
Covering a wide range of themes, the students worked tirelessly to commit to memory each of their poems. The evening was planned as part of a national initiative encouraging young people across the country to discover the joy of learning and reciting poems. Poetry was learnt, memorised and recited in English lessons over the course of a half term of intensive study.
After a school competition held in January, two year ten students from Sunnydale qualified to represent the school in the County stage of the competition at Queen Elizabeth College in Darlington. Megan McTeam and Charlotte Rowley both performed poems from the ‘poetry by heart’ anthology in front of a judging panel which included The Editor of the Northern Echo and children’s author Peter Barron as the Chair of Judges, Anne Caldwell, Deputy Chair of the National Association of Writers In Education, and Dr Alex Niven, Lecturer in English Literature at Newcastle University.
Poetry by Heart co-ordinator Kath Lee commented the girls’ performance was ‘stunning, and so fantastic to see Shildon young people taking part.’
Following on from the school competition which was aimed at Y10 students, the English department at Sunnydale decided to organise a special evening whereby KS3 students could showcase their talents. Over 20 students from years 7, 8 and 9 performed poems they had themselves selected in front of an audience including parents and staff.
All talents were showcased, including dance set to poetry and the musical numbers performed by Leah Mundy and Rebecca Fish from year eight.
The event was a huge success, and the English Department were delighted with the engagement of all students who were inspired to take part.
Mr Dover, teacher of English at Sunnydale commented ‘Developing skills in poetry analysis is a key part of the new English curriculum and this initiative has certainly contributed to students love for poetry. We can’t wait to do it again next year.’
Christine Stonehouse, Head of School at Greenfield Community College, was immensely proud of everyone who took part. “It was wonderful to see both students and staff reciting their chosen poems with such passion, confidence and fluency.
The original vision for the event came from Mrs Robson who not only inspired the young people to take part but got everyone on their feet to sing Jerusalem for a powerful and emotional finale.”
