Thanks to our Head of English, Mrs Ronaldson, our Middles and Seniors have been on a poetical
journey this Lent term. Culminating in a poetry presentation in our chapel, the children have studied
a variety of forms and genres.
Y6 have been thinking about different emotions and how these can be expressed through our five
senses. They wrote poems that used imagery to explore how emotions might sound, smell, taste,
look and feel.
In honour of one child’s family dog who had recently passed, the class collectively wrote a beautiful,
yet moving poem about grief;
Grief is a grey rainy Monday;
Grief is a jet black, inky monochrome night.
It smells of eerie, melting gunpowder smoke;
It is scaly, shattered glass and spiky barbed wire.
Grief is a cheerless silence.
It is the heart-rending cry of an old dejected toy.
Grief is bitter and burnt, like poison.
It is a dead tree; a stinging nettle; a diffused bomb.
It makes us feel sorry, miserable, depressed.
Grief is an ending.
Created by American poet, Adelaide Crapsey, they also studied cinquains which are poems with a
verse of five lines that don’t need to rhyme. Each line contains descriptive words and phrases that
create an image of the topic for the reader.
Our Y5 & Y6 enrichment group wrote a poem together about a theme they felt strongly about, in
this instance, the environment and the need to ‘Save our Seas’ (SOS)
We've got to put our foot down!
No matter how hard the waves crash!
Our azure sea is bleeding, crying with desperation!
She is calling to be rescued!
Suffocating from our mess!
We are the bottom brick, all the pressure is on us!
Can we help?
Can we save her?
We can make a difference!
Class 7O are reading the play ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare and they learnt how he used a
technique called iambic pentameter to write emotional speeches. This uses ten beats per line, which
echoes a heartbeat and the children used famous quotes from his play to inspire their own
‘heartfelt’ poems.
Class 7S used their class book ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar, to write rondeau poems which use three
stanzas and with two repeating rhymes. The first line is echoed at the end of the 2 nd and 3 rd stanza in
what is called a refrain. 7D wrote poems with the title Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
Our Y8 children were challenged to write snap poems where they were given just 25 minutes to
write a poem inspired by a particular image. This year group recognise that they are in transition,
becoming teenagers and preparing for their move to senior schools. They were therefore tasked
with looking at poems that explore different ages and stages. Unsurprisingly, many of the Y8 poets
referenced their upcoming Common Entrance exams. We wish them the very best of luck!
