Quarry Mount Primary School pupils explore Space. 31.3.22

Mary Francis writes:

It was a magnificently sunny, snowy morning when Year 5 pupils at Quarry Mount Primary School shared some of their poems in assembly with the rest of the school - though sadly not their parents, due to Covid-19. 

They had been working over three sessions with writer and poet James Nash on exploring the theme of Space, then coming up with ideas around that theme, turning those ideas into poems, then editing and rewriting them until they were happy with a finished piece of work.

The pupils were very impressive and had obviously learned a great deal. The deliveries of their work were splendid, with some good, strong and seemingly confident voices. Their poems seemed to go down very well with the rest of the school.

Some good lines -

Millions of stars around me/ shining like a torch in the darkness/ blinking in front of planets

I can feel fear as my friends and family plunge into eternal darkness of Space

I am moving into the dark away from the stars/ Behind me all the planets/ Venus, Earth and Mars

        …. as through Space I roam

I can see darkness in Space/ I can smell the dust, smoke and gas

The young poets had been very engaged and had enjoyed the sessions.

James managed to collect some feedback from them -

Best thing about the project - 

Learning how poems work - sharing them with a group - learning how to write a poem - transforming a story into a poem - learning the features of a poem

What they learned - 

How to set a poem out - how to turn ideas into a poem - facing challenges in writing > perseverance - the things that make a poem a poem

Why it was good to share work with other pupils -

You can hear what needs to change - it’s good to share ideas - helps you make it better - people can get inspiration from you

What they will remember about this project - 

How to start a poem - how to make a story into a poem - features of a poem - how to make a poem interesting - how to edit and redraft to make a poem

James adds:

One of the strengths of the poetry projects in primary schools is how we work within the curriculum to build on it and underpin it. The children had had a visit from a planetarium two days before I came in so were full of facts and information. Together we went on a poetic space journey and they rose to the challenge.

On the morning of the sharing assembly seven of my young poets read their poetry to the rest of their class whilst I did a session on performance skills with the remaining four. In the assembly these four and some others from Year 5 read their space poems and haikus with grace and confidence.

Comments coming my way from staff including the Year 5 classroom assistant 

‘you always get the best out of the children’ 

and ‘how brilliant to see the children grow in confidence during the sessions’.

It was great to see how attentive the rest of the school were with the performances; they clearly got a very strong message about poetry, spoken word and creativity.