Welcome to our poetry page

In December 2009 we held the finals of our spoken poetry competition.  All the children from Years 3 - 8 learnt a poem of their choice and performed them in front of their class. Finalists were chosen and Mr James Breen from Wellington College English Department came to judge.  There were three sections - Juniors (Years 3 & 4), Middles (Years 5 & 6) and Seniors (Years 7 & 8) and three prize winners were chosen in each group.  It was a splendid afternoon celebrating the spoken word.

Senior Prize Winners:

1st Charlie Waters - Blake's Tyger Revisited by Michaela Morgon

2nd Menna Braithwaite - The Race by Dee Groberg

3rd Nathaniel Hatch-Johnson - Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

Middle Prize Winners:

1st Ella Dow - The Web of Life by Jane Clark

2nd Edward Scott - If Pigs Could Fly by June Crebbin

3rd Hassan Rubbani - Introducing Dad by Roger Stevens

Junior Prize Winners:

1st Christopher Myers - Parent Free Zone by Brian Moses

2nd Anastasia Grillo - The Sleepy Dragon by June Crebbin

3rd Jamie Lunnon - About the Teeth of Sharks by John Gardi

  All the prize winners and Mr James Breen - December 2009

 All the prize winners and Mrs Denise Cook - December 2008

In October 2008, just after National Poetry Day, Kit Wright came into school to share some of his poems and talk about his writing.  Pupils from Reception to Year 6 were involved in various workshops.  At the end of the day he signed some copies of his poetry collections.

One of Kit Wright's poems is entitled The Magic Box and Year 3 had a go at writing their own versions: 

The Magic Box

I will put in the box,a taste of sweet ice cream and the heat of custard mixing together.
The smell of the sweet chocolate swishing through my nose .
The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks.
My box is made out of shiny gold diamonds as bright as the sun .
It’s as big as the world and everything can fit into it.
The shimmering colours of the box will make everyone want to go near it.
Eleanor Sherlock Year 3

The Magic Box

I will put in the box,
The smell of melted chocolate and sweets in my mouth,
The taste of sticky toffee and juicy watermelon,
Hot marshmallows when they squidge in my teeth.

I will put in my box,
The sound of salt and vinegar crisps going crunch,
The sight of waves so large I can surf all day,
The sound of sea gulls circling and squeaking around the fishing boat approaching the harbour.

My box is made
The top would be water proof and keep me warm with a shimmering silver lining,
My magic box is made of a spine of a snake, some teeth from a shark and with a side made of rings with gold all over it.
The lid is made of centipede and it has a lock that if broken with result in them being bitten by a fierce cobra.
Charlie Perry Year 3

The Magic Box

The taste of sweet melting chocolate,
On the hottest day.
The rich smell of blueberry pie,
Straight from the baking oven.
The sweet melody of humming bees.

My box is made out of ,
A big treasure chest,
With unicorn fur all over the place.
The hinges are made of a claw of a swooping owl.
The sound of mysteries being retold is the job of the lid.
Rohaan Haikerwal Year 3

National Poetry Day 2008

This year's theme was Work and the pupils in Year 8 had a go at writing some quick Haiku.  Here are some of the results:

Slaving every day

Trying to calm screaming kids

Trying hard to teach

Jonny Baldry 8S

Wretched suits bind us

To bland desks whilst we scrawl

Out numbers and figures

Huw Braithwaite 8S

Boring and yawning

Concentrating he is not

Teacher gets annoyed!

Dominic Hill 8E

Gruelling hours of work

Making me extremely stressed

This day is so hard

Tristan Davis 8E

Tongue tied and alone

Timid of the audience

Not ready to sing.

Francesca Barnard 8S

Clutching the baby

Hot, slippery and crying

Shivering and new.

Chloe James 8S

Metal locker bangs

Blind stares look to the wild

Please let me go.

Ella Higham 8E

Laughing together

Giggling until it's hurting!

Smiling cheeks help.

Emily Holbert 8E

Dinner jackets and bow ties

Plates of food piled steaming high

But never for me.

Robert Hwang 8S

War Horse

Year 8 began the school year with a topic dedicated to Michael Morpurgo's War Horse and writing related to war.  The unit ended with a visit to the National Theatre to see the acclaimed production of War Horse.

All students had the opportunity to produce some creative writing based on the topic and here are a few of the results:

Look At Him Go

Look at him go, to the naked eye just a horse, but to me not a horse,

More than a horse, a blazing stallion in all his beauty.

His golden coat glimmering in the midday sun.

How lucky the innocent farmer’s boy who rides this rhythmical beast.

This horse so fine, a noble steed, fit to be ridden by a general in the heart of war.

But the glory of war is futile, few come back victorious, most stay till death.

Sean McCarten 8W

Only Death

Stinking mud sucked our feet down

As we lugged our heavy rifles behind

Whisps of smoke from a solemn pipe,

Curled into the crisp morning air.

Rain battered our tin helmets –

A barrage of harmless shrapnel.

White knuckles gripped rifles,

The guns of salvation?

No! There is no salvation!

No pride, no glory,

Only death, death all around

I studied my comrades,

Their skeletal, gas hooded faces

Stared back at me.

The lifeless, glassy eyes,

Hid their true emotions.

A macabre death mask.

Whistles sounded down the line,

Death beckoned us.

Is this the glory they speak of?

Sending us into the jaws

Of the Kaiser’s rabid dogs?

No, there is no glory here,

Only death.

Daniel Rayner 8S

Struggle

John Winter’s face was

Splattered with bruises

His eyes were glazed with sand

Peering ahead with anguish

The nails he scrabbled with:

Stoppered with mud and

Yellow as custard.

Revealed beneath peeling lips

Were splintered teeth.

In the mud, the slime,

Lay dismembered bodies.

John Winter had known them:

The men who slept where

They had fallen, in the filth.

Hands raised to the surface

Of the demolished earth:

Rotten and twisted

Down, down, down

Charge! He yelled.

Chloe James 8S