Across the school this week poetry has rung out: softly, confidently, from comfy carpets, in front of rapt audiences, from beings small and tall. National Poetry Day encourages people all over the country to make, experience, and share poetry. This week we focused keenly on sharing: on finding common ground and communal enjoyment through language. In the past month, all pupils at NHP have been busy learning a poem by heart. Children in the Upper School visited the OB this week to meet with a Lower School class. Each class performed a poetry recital for the other, sharing not just a poem, but words of respect and encouragement too. Our visits culminated with Upper School children reading poetry books to lower school children, an activity loved by all. Our week was crowned by a visit from Colville Primary School, with whom we were excited to share a morning of poetry recitals. We gathered together in mixed year groups, spotting friends from opposite schools and giving sunny greetings to unfamiliar faces. Quite separately over the past month, pupils at Colville and NHP have been perfecting the same poems to share and perform together. What a joyful spectacle it was to see them collaborate in performance, speaking as one voice through their poems and entertaining us all so thoroughly with their spirited recitals. Brave trios and duos from Year 3, 4, and 5 performed for us too, and their peers praised their confidence and sensitive interpretation. Thank you so much to staff and pupils at Colville Primary School at NHP for making this year’s National Poetry Day one to remember.
