Year 8 Poetry Study

Poetry Slam energy is building!

This week, the Year 8 cohort began their week-long Poetry Slam incursion to round off their Term 1 Poetry study. Visited by poet Emilie Zooey-Baker and hip-hop artist N’fa Jones, the students gathered in the gym to get an introduction to spoken word poetry and to build some excitement for the week of workshops to come.  

The energy was electric as N’fa took to the mic and shared one of the first lyrical poems he wrote as a teenager. He then showed the group what poetry could become as he sang a song from one of his early bands 1200 Techniques and took on the challenge of a free-style rap including some words thrown out by the crowd. One of the finalists from 2023, Hamish Gunthorpe (Year 9), performed his winning poem The Donald Trumps of History, to great applause.  

Over the week, the visiting poets will work with each form group twice to brainstorm, workshop and write a small-group performance poem. They’ll be given tips on how to write a poem to ‘challenge’ and how to use language and voice to engage, encourage, and impact their listeners.  

Then, during week 9, students will present their poems in class and select two groups from each form group to participate in the Poetry Slam Final during week 1 of Term 2. 

Elenni Balis