Wednesday 21 March 2012 Pupils from Pool CE Primary School in Pool-in-Wharfedale have been crowned Junior ‘Speak Up’ champions at a poetry slam held at the Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL). Six Leeds-based primary schools including GSAL’s Junior School competed against one another in the GSAL ‘Speak Up’ poetry competition, with Pool CE winning the title amidst very tough competition. During a series of collaborative workshops with visiting local poets organised by the project’s creator GSAL English teacher Jenny Webb, pupils were shown new and expressive ways to approach creative writing, before being invited to create a group poem with an Olympic theme. The six schools presented their group poem at GSAL in an American-style poetry slam event, which saw each school act out and deliver their written piece to the judging panel of writers and teaching professionals. Jenny Webb from GSAL, said, “All of the groups who presented their poems were excellent in their own right and the scores were extremely tight. Pupils from Pool CE took the overall title due to their dynamic and memorable performance, which made use of movement and voice to convey some very powerful messages relating to the subject of hurdles. “It is a tremendous achievement to see pupils as young as nine and ten creating such striking poetry in such a short space of time.” Given the success of the inaugural ‘Speak Up’ project, GSAL is looking to roll out the competition again next year in conjunction with participating Leeds-based primary schools. Pictured with the winning team of Year 5 pupils are (back row) Sally Fox, Year 5 Teacher from Pool CE, project creator Jenny Webb from GSAL, poet Simon Murray and Helen Chadwick, Teaching Assistant from Pool CE. General Primary News
