Sally Bavage writes:
Not a forecast but a foretaste as I was gusted into reception. Poetry written by year 3 this week provided all the considerations of weather you could want. Once again James Nash, local writer and poet, led the youngsters to explore their creativity and consider, write, edit and share their own writing, first amongst themselves and then as a finale in front of the whole school and around thirty parents and grandparents. At age seven or eight years old, would you have been confident doing that?!
They mostly were and did. Yes, a few nerves beforehand and the odd wobbling lip, but aplomb took over and you'd never have guessed it from the confidence with which these petite poets read out their work to the audience. Some read out all their work, some read a snippet to give us a taste of their writing; all of them gave us imagery and occasionally a glimpse of the inner thespian as they relished their moment in the sun. Sorry, couldn't resist that.
It's really a privilege to see how these pupils rise to the challenge and enjoy writing and declaiming their own work. The secret is that this project allows them to write about what interests them, and demonstrate what they can do – not quite always the case under the national curriculum. This year group have had a hard time recently; you might call them the 'pandemic generation' as most of their schooling has been disrupted by absence and lack of continuity.
Offering a free-flowing project to use poetry to inspire a joy in using the written word to express original ideas was a splendid gift, said class teacher Mrs Baruah. She continued, “It's such a joy to see how they have risen to this challenge throughout this week as they contributed ideas, personal viewpoints and a chance to develop their vocabulary. They gave us such trust.”
Class teaching assistant Adam Bickerdike added, “It has been so very rewarding to see how some pupils have really surprised us with their creativity and willingness to engage, even from the confines of autism.” Some of the parents and grandparents also confided just how delighted they were to have been invited by children both excited and nervous.It was fun,” Working with a real poet” and “Poems don't have to rhyme” were some of many comments offered by the class.
The project will now produce an anthology of all their work, even some contributions from the parents who were invited back to the classroom after the assembly (they all squeezed in somehow, delighted to be asked.) They were then challenged to write some lines of their own to add to the anthology! So the legacy of this work lives on, not just with the development of the creative writing process but a collection of the work and a talking point with parents and grandparents, some of whom expressed a desire to continue to follow up the poetry spark that had been ignited.
Grateful thanks to the Inner North West area management committee of Leeds City Council, especially local councillors, who granted the funding for this work.
