On Thursday 3rd October 2024, we celebrated National Poetry Day at Burgess Hill Girls with a range of exciting and creative activities that truly brought poetry to life, our Head of English, Sarah Kruschandl reports. From a whole-school poetry competition to a visit from an award-winning author, our students embraced the spirit of the day, producing fantastic work and engaging with poetry in meaningful ways.
Our whole-school poetry competition was a standout event. Each day leading up to National Poetry Day, a different poem was displayed outside the English office. Students were challenged to guess which teacher loved each poem by asking teachers around the school (outside of lesson time). If they guessed correctly, they earned a stamp on their competition card. By Thursday 3rd October, students who had collected all five stamps brought their completed cards to the English office, where they received a small prize. To add to the excitement, those with completed cards were also entered into a draw for the chance to win a voucher, which was announced in Friday’s assembly. The competition created a real buzz around the school, with students and teachers alike engaging in conversations about their favourite poems.
As part of the day’s celebrations, we also ran a creative poetry activity that saw students making poems from book titles. From a random selection of novels, pupils grouped and ordered the books, creating imaginative and thought-provoking poems just from the titles. This exercise encouraged them to think creatively and share their poetic interpretations with the class, which added a fresh and fun twist to traditional poetry writing.
A real highlight of the day was the visit from Tia Fisher, author of the award-winning verse novel ‘Crossing the Line’. Tia shared her journey as a writer, offering insight into the creation of her novel and the world of creative writing. Her story inspired our students, reminding them that success isn’t always a straight line and that persistence and passion are key. Tia’s talk was followed by a lively Q&A session, with students eagerly asking questions about her career and writing process. Our Year 9 then participated in a poetry workshop, writing narrative poems about their first day of Senior School. The girls showed real creativity and openness, and their work was both touching and inspiring.
At Burgess Hill Girls, National Poetry Day is a wonderful opportunity to ignite a love for poetry, boost students’ confidence, and develop their writing skills. The celebrations culminated in a video featuring two of our talented students, Sasha and Maia, alongside myself, reciting our favourite poems. This was a fitting finale to a day full of creativity, inspiration, and a shared love of poetry.
View this post on Instagram
We are immensely proud of all the students who participated and look forward to celebrating National Poetry Day again next year!