School Matters 36

8

CHAUCER HERITAGE TRUST CREATIVE WRITING

Dr Cairns with Sebastian Onillon, S9

NATIONAL POETRY DAY Pupils in Senior 7 – Senior 9 studied poems in class about this year’s theme of ‘Choice’ before composing their own. After last year’s virtual celebration, we were delighted to be able to host an in-person poetry recital on the Terrace this year. In front of a gathered audience, finalists from each class performed their poems, which took us on a journey from Robert Frost’s America to the plight of women in nineteenth-century society, via katsu curry! Sebastian Onillon, S9 was crowned IPS National Poetry Day Poet of the Year with his poem ‘Lies Lead to Lies’, a philosophical exploration of choice, indebted to Frost himself. The judges were impressed by Sebastian’s sophisticated topic and vocabulary. He won a copy of the beautiful anthology A Poem for Every Night of the Year, from which we hope he will draw much poetic inspiration. Thank you to all participants and finalists. Dr Anna Cairns, Head of English LIES LEAD TO LIES by Sebastian Onillon The hard and the easy The rushed who choose One path laden and long The other light and short. For a time, I stood At the bend Staring at both ends: A sycamore, tall and proud, stout and strong, lay at the long one’s end A misty meet, mysterious yet seductive, lay at the short one’s end. Not wanting the long one’s journey, Ignorantly took the short one’s route. Yet, at the end, All I found Were brambles and another bend. Now and forevermore What was under that sycamore? For lies are easy and misleading, And truth will always remain the path not taken. A lone traveller, Tired and weary,

WORKSHOP Members of IPS’s creative writing club Inklings welcomed Dr Charles Farris from the Chaucer Heritage Trust. He provided an engaging introduction to the life and works of Geoffrey Chaucer, including exploring the differences in dialogue and language in Chaucer’s day compared to modern English. Inklings also had an opportunity to practise reading snippets from The Canterbury Tales aloud using the original pronunciation. Finally, Dr Farris introduced and invited Inklings to participate in this year’s Canterbury Tales Writing Competition; this year’s theme is ‘Prejudice and difference’. Pupils began working on their stories and poems, and all left excited and eager to enter the competition.

Alaina Khan with Theresa Lola

ALAINA IS CROWNED POET LAUREATE To conclude our National Poetry Day celebrations, we were joined by the former Young People’s Laureate for London Theresa Lola for a packed day of wonderful word play. Theresa led LVI English A-level pupils in a poetry writing masterclass, designed to help sharpen pupils’ critical appreciation as well as experimenting with crafting their own verse. At Morning Break Theresa was our special guest at the open-air crowning ceremony of our new School Poet Laureate, Alaina Khan, LVI on the Terrace. Pupils of all ages had the opportunity to hear Theresa perform a poem dedicated to Alaina. It was great to see former laureate Alex Mortimer present to support Alaina. Thank you, Alex, for your huge contribution in this role and many congratulations to Alaina. Year 7 and 8 pupils were treated to interactive performances in the Theatre during which they took part in activities to explore different ways of writing poetry and develop confidence in expressing themselves. Theresa’s visit concluded with a lunch- time Q&A session with a group of pupil journalists from The Wall and The Scoop who found out more about Theresa’s career as a professional writer and left with a plethora of insider top tips. Ms Helen Cleaves, Librarian

Dr Charles Farris