National Poetry Day

Thursday October 6th, the United Kingdom's National Poetry Day, was the culmination of weeks of poetic creativity at Kensington School. Those students who had written poems, performed them in front of their class, and been adjudged worthy of qualifying, were invited to participate in the lunchtime poetry slam final in the school theatre, an annual event that hit new heights this year.

With fiery emotions replacing face masks and live performance replacing video entries, the theatre was abuzz as contestants stepped up to perform their poems on the theme of the environment. A hundred spectators looked on and cheered as poems which introduced us to The Environmental Doctor, the reasons why we should stop buying Colgate, and the links between American politics and the end of the world forced us to think in new and imaginative ways about the world we live in and must care for. Teachers, both seasoned veterans of the competition (Mr Vanderheyden) and new arrivals at the school (Ms Cheetham), performed their own contributions, and, as usual, Mlle Thebault's class performed a poem written by them in French.

The Sixth-Form judges - Aya, Leo and Sara, our final-year English students - found it very difficult to select the winners, but in the end made the following choices:

Key Stage 2

Winner - Carlo (J5)

Runner-up - Nikhil (J5)

Key Stage 3

Winner - Yolanda (F3)

Runner-up - Lucas (F2)

Key Stage 4/5

Winner - Apple (F5)

Runner-up - Rebecca (L6)

On Friday 7th October, in the Junior School assembly, other finalist participants from the lower years of the Junior School took their chance to perform and receive their finalists certificates in a wonderful demonstration of the rhythm and rhyme skills they have been developing in their classes.

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In all, it was a wonderful celebration of both poetry and the planet! We hope our fragile Earth will make it through another year for us to celebrate the joys of poetry again next year.