SHS hosted their annual SHS Poetry Competition on Monday 20th March. All the boys had previously auditioned before three representatives from each year were nominated to perform in our grand final. With a spectacular array of poetry, representing different genres and themes, each and every boy impressed the judges with their intonation, gestures and performances. For the grand final, Head of English Dr Buckingham and SHS Governor Mrs Lowe were our judges and both were thoroughly impressed by those performing on stage. Our judges and the school as a whole were also treated to musical interludes by Matthew H, Benji H, Charlie D, Pip M, Alex C and Thomas B. The eighteen SHS Poetry Competition finalists for 2023 were as follows:
Junior School Competition (Years 3 and 4)
Hedy B – ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ by Roald Dahl
Erik J – ‘The Teacher’s Day in Bed’ by David Orme
Hecong X – ‘Bonfire’ by Jean Kenward
Felix C – ‘George’s Marvellous Plan from George’s Marvellous Medicine’ by Roald Dahl
Hawken E – ‘True Story’ by Shel Silverstein
Oliver T – ‘The Crocodile’ by Roald Dahl
Middle School Competition (Years 5 and 6)
Lorenzo B – ‘Mum and Dad’ by Bill Watterson
Elliot M – ‘Yo Yo’ by Michael Rosen
Bertie M – ‘Sick’ by Shel Silverstein
Joseph L – ‘Hot Food’ by Michael Rosen
Barney M – ‘The Quangle Wangle’s Hat’ by Edward Lear
Elijah S – ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Senior School Competition (Years 7 and 8)
Arthur T – ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon
Rishaan K – ‘Burn’ from Hamilton the Musical
Felix W – ‘Everyone Sang’ by Siegfried Sassoon
Ayush A – ‘Barter’ by Sara Teasdale
Theo O’D – ‘The Visitor’ by Ian Serraillier
Jax W- ‘Alive’ by Anonymous
After much deliberation from our judges, our Junior School Competition Winner was Hawken E with his wonderfully comic interpretation of ‘True Story’ by Shel Silverstein. Having produced a similarly humourous performance, Bertie M was our Middle School Competition Winner with his witty delivery of ‘Sick’ by Shel Silverstein. Finally, our Senior School Competition Winner was Theo O’D with his dark and dramatic performance of ‘The Visitor’ by Ian Serraillier. Many congratulations to our winners and to all of the finalists in this year’s SHS Poetry Competition. Finally, a huge thank you and well done to the English Department, our parents and the entire SHS community for supporting the boys and helping them deliver such professional performances on the day.
