On Monday 24th January, the first-years were given the challenge to learn two poems of their choice by heart – one post-war and one pre-war from the collection we have been working from this year ‘Poetry by Heart’.

In front of the whole year group (48 students) they performed their poems and were awarded a mark from peers and teachers based on different criteria including accuracy, physical presence and dramatic appropriateness.

The standard was extremely high and the participants made an excellent impression on the jury which included our American assistant who was “blown away”!

The joint silver medalists, Lilibelle with Jackie Kay’s ‘Dusting the Phone’ and Xavier with Paul Dunbar’s ‘We Wear the Mask’, received a voucher for 10€ for the VO Bookshop in Lille and the winner Saba, with Patrick Kavanagh’s ‘Epic’ received a voucher for 25€. No one went home empty handed though, as GPSIBL very kindly financed Cadbury’s chocolate bars for everyone.