Senior School Poetry Cafe

An exciting Poetry Café was held outside the Senior School Dining Hall this Tuesday at lunchtime celebrating the publication of the poetry anthology This World of Ours. 14 poems written by our students were published in the anthology,  and 7 of our poets were brave enough to get up in front of their peers and read theirs.

One of the poets was Year 10 student Amaia C who shared :

The experience of the Poetry Café was a wonderful journey. Poetry is not something that you can plan, and I learnt that the hard way: by trying to force rhythm, rhyme, and repetition into a boxed structure. However, after letting things go and just pouring out my pent-up frustrations onto paper, surprisingly, I had something to work with. For the next few weeks, my draft went through some polishing and slight tweaking, being given guidance and tips given from my teacher. I then had a poem of which I was proud.

Later, my poem was entered in the next round for Mark Grist to edit. He stayed connected with me for specific changes he wanted for my poem for over a month, and we finally came to an agreement on the final edit. Throughout this process, I was able to understand my own poem more deeply and learned new ways of expressing myself through poetry.

My poem and a couple of other students’ poems made it into the anthology and were asked to read them one last time. Though we were a bit terrified at first, I'm sure that many of us felt the wave of nostalgia wash over us as we read the poems that our past selves had created. 

As two year 10 students, Mahek D and Natasha C put it: “It was encouraging and lots of fun. I was nervous to recite my poem, but the eagerness of the teachers and students made it a great experience.”

As well - “This was a great opportunity to expand my knowledge and understanding of poems as well as talking with Mark Grist and being able to see poetry from a different perspective. Having my poem published as well as performing my poem was also an extremely new experience that was very enjoyable.”

The poetry event will truly be a cherished memory. I now proudly hold the anthology with the works of students from all different schools, grateful for the experience that the Poetry Café has brought to me."

The following poems were included in the anthology,

• Alien Tongue  Siming Z.
• A Letter for Her Home  Lona Y.
• Am I a purple child  Amaia C.
• Ethnicities Maximillian M.
• Home   Charmaine W.
• I can't write poems Vito Q.
• Me and I Natasha C.
• Monday Sabrina and Beatrice 
• Mountain Peak Guanting 
• My brother Beany Y.
• Pieces of me Mahek D.
• Robin hood and the crown jewels Toby U.
• The last breath West W.
• The Voice Keke W.

Check out some more photos below:

It was an incredible event, with students expressing genuine and profound thoughts through poetry. 

Nicola Ball, Head of English in Senior School, shared:

"I was so proud of our Middle School students. This is an amazing achievement to be published at such a young age. Many people have commented on the maturity of the work created here and I had goosebumps listening to their performances today. 

The themes explored in these poems have touched us all. Our students have expressed complex feelings about their cultural identity and helped us all to understand what it means to be part of an International community; I am so pleased that their work will now have a global audience. Simply Outstanding!"

Please see the video below: