Words in the City

Two teams from Year 9 were lucky enough to take part in the Poetry Slam Final at The Carriageworks, on Friday 11 May. The event was part of ‘Words in the City’ project, run by The Ilkley Literary Festival, celebrating spoken word poetry.

The day involved ice-breaker games and a poetry workshop, which gave the group a chance to mix with students from the eight other schools across Leeds who took part. Two professional poets, Sai Murray and Andy Craven-Griffiths were on hand to give advice and encouragement. They were shown breathing techniques, relaxation exercises and voice projection, as well as being given a variety of ideas for writing poetry.

In the afternoon, after some team rehearsals, the students took it in turns to perform on stage to the other groups. The atmosphere was amazing and the standard of the poetry was phenomenal. Our students gave an excellent performance and did Allerton Grange school proud!

Mr Roper, Headteacher, said, “Speaking in front of a big group of strangers can be very daunting but our students overcame the challenge to put on a wonderful performance. A huge well done from everyone at Allerton Grange.”