The Exciting World of Words and “Light”

Thursday 8 October was National Poetry Day and the pupils at St Christopher’s marked the day through a number of events.

Children in the Infant school were entertained by their teachers, who were all invited to choose a favourite poem to read to children. A number went even further, recording themselves performing the poem so that other classes could see too! Many poems were shared in classes, introducing some to forms of poetry the children had not encountered before.

In the Junior School, the daily English lesson was given over to the writing of poetry. The theme for this year was ‘Light’ and after sharing a number of pieces of work by well-known poets, the children worked both in groups and independently to produce their own poems.

A cross-phase digital project was also undertaken, where over 40 Year 7 children visited Year 5 to run poetry workshops. Again basing their ideas around the theme of ‘Light’, they introduced the topic, organised games and ran quizzes, eventually leading the younger children to write their own poems inspired by the idea of capturing light in a jar. The final poems were written onto coloured paper and placed inside a glass jar before being lit up with torchlight or glow-sticks. Year 7 were fabulous presenters, engaging confidently and enthusiastically with the event. Year 5 produced some very effective poetry and enjoyed interacting with their Year 7 presenters. All students enjoyed an atmospheric shared reading of the ‘glowing’ poems at the end of the workshop.