Wednesday 13 June 2012 Two sixth form students from the Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) will be taking the trip of a lifetime next month to represent Leeds at the international poetry slam competition, Brave New Voices, in San Francisco. Tom Jenkins and Quentin Scobie will be part of a team of five young people selected by Leeds Young Authors, which is a voluntary organisation that promotes writing skills and social inclusion among young people. With the team members drawn from across the city the charity needs to raise funds to support them with the costs of the trip and GSAL is holding a fundraiser at the school on Tuesday 19 June at 7.00pm. The evening’s entertainment will include performances from poets Simon Murray and Khadijah Ibrahim as well as slam performances from the Brave New Voices team and GSAL pupils. All are welcome to attend, tickets are £6 (£4 concessions). Tom and Quentin have been honing their writing and performance skills since January during a creative writing project ‘Speak Up!’ run by the school, working with professional poets to create their own poetry and perform it in a poetry slam competition. It was during the slam that Tom and Quentin caught the eye of the judges and earned their selection for the Brave New Voices team. English teacher Jenny Webb devised the ‘Speak Up!’ project. She explains, “Tom and Quentin won over the judges with their writing skill and powerful stage presence. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and a huge accolade for these boys who had never ‘slammed’ before this year!” Quentin said, “I’m very pleased to be going to San Francisco, it will be my first visit to the city and it’s a great opportunity to experience an international poetry slam and meet young writers from around the world.” Quentin Scobie (far left) and Tom Jenkins (standing, back centre) are pictured with the Brave New Voices team. General Senior School Sixth Form News
