Evacuees
Sally Bavage writes:
Two year six classes (ages 10 to 11) are studying War, and our commissioned poet James Nash – pictured with class teachers Ms Bilioni and Mr Crossley – took up the theme of Evacuees for this poetry project. As deputy head Mrs Green said when introducing the work to the thirty or so parents and visitors who were able to attend the mid-morning final presentations, “Every year we are astounded by the writing, the creativity and the trust that James produces from this transformational project. You are in for a treat.” We were.
Sixty youngsters read to us from their work, drafted, shared, edited and honed. A dozen read their whole poem, other just their favourite selection. Think of the logistics of that! Fortunately, school teaching and support staff are hugely supportive of what this project does for these young people and help with achieving order and calm. Yes, some rattling pieces of paper held in hands shaking with nerves but also some voices raised confidently and proudly even without the use of the microphone.
As one parent confided before the start: “She has absolutely loved it. She even read out some other poems to me at breakfast this morning.” Another confessed that his “son was so proud of his poem and was looking forward to performing it.”
The deeply empathetic writing started off in a busy city station with young children being evacuated to safety but leaving families and friends. The youngsters wrote heartfelt descriptions of what they sensed and felt as children from almost a century ago, with fresh and sophisticated vocabulary that made you forget their youth and focus on their engagement. Behaviour or learning difficulties entirely forgotten, they were immersed in the place their writing took them.
“I can taste the salty tears in my mouth.”
“I feel the embrace of my little sister.”
My dad is in a gloomy graveyard, Lying in his deathbed.”
My life story now turns another page.”
“Sometimes, I want to go to the past.”
Confusion, fury, worry and hope; Nothing was perfect anymore.”
I can hear my heart beating: thump, thump, thump.”
“I can still taste my last meal with mother.”
“My life is a new chapter, somewhere I've never been.”
I could go on for pages with extracts from the children's work that demonstrate just how closely they entered into the world of these Evacuees. Ideas spilled out in sharing sessions and were refined into work of which the children were so proud. As Ms Bilioni said, “We've now got Confidence with a capital C. My class has been asking me every morning if we are doing poetry. This work makes creative writing accessible to all; James wrote his own exemplar poem at a range of levels to encourage them all that they too could join in.” And Mr Crossley said, “I'm really looking forward to next year!”
And the children? One girl had enjoyed the sharing of ideas and planning her poem carefully, another young chap had looked forward to performing his work and a third had absolutely exploded with ideas he could see in his mind's eye. “I'll remember the fun we had” and “It was good to see a poem grown from our first ideas”, as well as finding that poems don't have to rhyme but they have rhythm. Just where will these young people go with insights like that?
November 2023
Thanks are given to Leeds City Council's Inner North West area management committee for funding this work once again.
