Mrs Graves (Head of English)
This year, as with many things, National Poetry Day (which was on Thursday 1st October) felt a little different. The beginning of October usually brings our Poetree back to life, even as the leaves begin to fall from the trees outside our window, and despite organisational challenges, we were determined to engage with all our usual enthusiasm in this important national celebration of creativity!
Every student in Year 7 to 9 was invited during their English lessons to create a poem based on this year’s theme: Vision. Especially given the pace of change in the world at the moment, we thought it was a great opportunity for students to explore as many different perspectives on the theme as possible. To this end, the English department asked our colleagues around the school to share how the idea of vision could be interpreted in different disciplines and subjects, with ideas ranging from the vision needed to pursue scientific discovery to a philosophical debate about vision and perspective. The student explored this in their lessons, using their skills of big picture thinking, creativity and originality to try to find unique ways to view the topic.
In the coming days, we will be adding the to the Poetree display, which always forms a great point of interest and discussion as the BGS community move around the school. We hope that everyone will take a moment to slow down and appreciate the wonderful work on display.
The fun isn’t over yet though! Don’t forget that there is a House poetry writing competition for students in Years 10 to Upper Sixth who did not get the chance to write a poem in class.
