National Poetry Day

With National Poetry Day and the Year 7 lunchtime activities weeks, this term has offered fantastic opportunities to engage with poetry beyond the English curriculum.

On a glorious September lunchtime, by the beautiful leafy backdrop of Farnborough Hill, the English Department challenged girls in Year 7 to gather into small groups and collaborate to write a poem about their surroundings. Inspired by the landscape and School buildings, the girls created some very impressive verse, demonstrating their grasp of poetic technique. The English teachers had a hard time choosing the best poems, and all of the pupils should be proud of what they produced in a short space of time. Notable for the linking of their environment with the strong sense of community the writers have enjoyed at Farnborough Hill, the winning poems are to be displayed in the English classrooms.

On National Poetry Day itself, we decided to ‘drop everything for poetry’ in our English lessons. Pupils across all Year Groups engaged with a variety of poetic activities, including writing poems about what their names mean to them; creating riddles (an ancient Anglo-Saxon form of poem) inspired by ‘The Hobbit’; listening to Simon Armitage’s new poem which reflects on the pandemic; exploring a Terrence Hayes Sonnet linked to Black History Month; and learning how to write in iambic pentameter. We hope all of the girls enjoyed exploring poetry creatively, and that they are encouraged to continue doing so!

Mr Toby Parkins, Head of English