Free-thinking Saint Felix School students join in with National Poetry Day

Carlotta Dieker, year 11. Pictures: Courtesy of Saint Felix (Image: Archant)

Students in years 7 to 11 at Saint Felix School in Reydon wrote poems in their own time, themed around 'freedom,' as part of National Poetry Day on Thursday, September 28.

All poems needed to reflect personal feelings about freedom, with individual interpretations of the theme covering topics including democracy and independence as well as war and sexism. A number of students read their poems, or those by established writers including Maya Angelou and Imtiaz Dharker that had inspired and moved them, in assembly on Monday, October 2.

Nabila Haque, 16, chose Maya Angelou's 'Still I Rise' for her performance. She said: 'I think that the poem's affirmation of my worth as a woman is really inspiring. It sends a message to everyone who feels oppressed, wherever they are in the world, to persevere and overcome the challenges that life throws at them.'

Mollie Barrett-Kelly, 14, entitled her poem 'Freedom' and said that 'she had taken the metaphor of drowning as a starting point and used it to explore the universal struggles for freedom.'

Mollie Barrett-Kelly, year 10. Pictures: Courtesy of Saint Felix (Image: Archant)

A number of international students contributed poems, demonstrating their competency in English as a second language. Carlotta Dieker, 15, who joined the school from Germany in September, composed an emotive piece highlighting the oppositions within freedom, and exploring the reality for most people who are denied independence:

Head of English Rod Lynch was impressed with the high standard of writing.

He said: 'Students really embraced the theme, and in both creating their own poems and studying other works have learned about the power of poetry to express emotion. It's great for poetry to be given a national profile in this way.'