The Cheltenham Education Partnership's Young Poets Group held its inaugural Poetry Slam on the evening of Monday 29th April. The event was the culmination of a busy year’s workshopping, writing and creative engagement.
Twenty-seven UC4 (Year 10) and SFC1 (Year 12) students, drawn from a range of schools in and around the local area, gathered at Cleeve School to perform their work on stage, with an impressive seven CLC girls among them.
The poets delivered their writing in a range of styles, from the quiet, calm and reflective to the lively and in-your-face, including one particularly energetic reading which climaxed with the poet making a dramatic leap into the audience (and, once the judges had deliberated, landing neatly in first place).
The poems were similarly wide-ranging, covering such topics as God, puppies and calling your parents once in a while. All the participants deserved plaudits, but we were especially pleased to see CLC’s own Gaia (UC4) take second place with her poem ‘The fall of September’, which drew praise for its evocative language and sense of time and place.
Also reading were Dagmar, Annointed, Maegan, Mohan, Janice and Angela (UC4), all of whom drew on personal experiences to share moving, funny and engaging work, which they delivered with maturity and sensitivity.
This will hopefully be the first of many well-attended slams. Here’s to 2025!
Mr Garrard, Teacher of English
