Year 7 Poetry Evening

Our Y7 poetry project begins with an exploration of poems selected to expand pupils’ understanding of the world and ignite their imaginations. We consider how poets create meaning through language and sound and even question what exactly it is that makes a poem a poem. This work culminates in the girls creating their own poems, a selection of which are performed for an audience of family and friends at the Year 7 Poetry Evening.

This year, to help the girls to prepare for their performances, during the afternoon of the 12th, the girls took part in workshops led by poet, actor and Croydon High alumna Shermya Modupe. Shermya’s stellar poetry journey was launched when she won the prestigious GDST Laurie Magnus poetry prize. It was so inspiring for the girls to work with Shermya to build their performance skills, and to find out a little about where life as a poet can take you.

Shermya stayed with us for the Poetry Evening, and began the event by telling us about her career so far, and performing three of her poems for us. Following this, we moved on to individual and group poetry performances by each of the Year 7 classes. The range of themes and ideas in these poems was very wide and hugely thought-provoking: we learnt about the life and times of abandoned socks and PE bags, we pondered the wonders of the natural world, and contemplated the impact of war. Teachers and parents were incredibly proud not only of the girls’ vivid, powerful poems, but also of the confidence they showed in being prepared to get up on the Croydon High stage and perform.

Here are some reflections on the evening from some of our Y7 performers:

“The Poetry Evening was really fun and exciting because we were able to perform our own poems such as one I wrote called “My World”. It was about saying thank you to the people in my life that make me able to smile and persevere. One of the best things was being able to meet Shermya Modupe, an award-winning poet and alumna of Croydon High. She helped us develop our performances and feel more comfortable on the stage. I am very grateful for this memorable Year 7 experience.”
-Leela D.

“The Year 7 Poetry Evening was extremely exciting and fun. We got to see our peers’ wonderful poetry production skills. On top of that, Shermya Modupe, a Croydon High alumna, visited this event. She had held a Year 7 poetry workshop and even read out a few of her own poems at the evening. I personally enjoyed listening to the fascinating ideas that my year had come up with! My poem was called “An Extravagant Lighthouse On A Desolate Beach”, and it was about a large aquarium lighthouse near a beach. Overall, I found this experience really fascinating and I hope we get to experience this again!”
-Richa P.

“I really enjoyed performing my poem, “The Great Weather Rebellion”, with a group of friends on Poetry Evening. It was a really enjoyable experience and it was really fun to see all the different poems my year group had been working on over the past few months. My poem was about how each season feels every time a storm hits, where winter was happy, but the other seasons were annoyed and angry.”
-Sienna P.

“I enjoyed performing my poem (“My Best Friends”) on stage. I also enjoyed listening to others’ poems and I thought that some of them were written with a lot of thought and feeling. My poem was about what I think of my friends and how we never let each other down and we are always there for each other. My favourite part of the Poetry Evening (for some reason) was when we all went to the lecture theatre to get ready to perform.”
-Inayah K.

The whole year group’s work can be found published on the Poetry Evening website. You can also read more about Shermya Modupe on the site and enjoy a selection of her poems.

Find out more about the event

Ms Elise Eminson
KS3 English Coordinator