By Mrs Graves (Head of English)

October might bring the chillier weather, but it also heralds the arrival of one of our favourite days: National Poetry Day. For thirty years now, the first Thursday in October has been an opportunity for everyone to take a moment to celebrate the ways in which poetry can enrich our lives. This year was no exception, and we turned our attention to the exciting theme provided this year: counting. 

This theme saw some of us in the English department step outside our comfort zone, and we scratched our heads trying to think about how we could draw on our somewhat rusty mathematical knowledge to create exciting poetry tasks for students to get involved in. Luckily, the students were able to provide us with some interesting interpretations, including thinking about counting syllables (perhaps using poetic structures like Haiku) or thinking about what we might count in our everyday lives; things like smarties in a tube, or steps on the way to a classroom. 

Our favourite way to consider the topic however, was by exploring what counts to us, and how we can make our voices count. One of our school values is about being bold, and National Poetry Day this year offered an excellent opportunity for students to think about how they could make their views and voices heard on the topics that really mattered to them. 

We certainly heard from some students as they noticed the absence of the Poet-tree- a staple of National Poetry Day at BGS for so many years. It was lovely to hear them reminisce about hanging their poems on the branches in years gone by, but we are looking forward to being able to reimagine the space creatively moving forwards. 

As a final ode to National Poetry Day this year, we thought it would be a lovely opportunity to celebrate what counts here at BGS, where our strong sense of community spirit leant itself well to composing a poem on the topic which is shared with you here. We hope you agree it encapsulates many of the things that make the school so special. 

You can read our BGS poem What Counts? Here.