In the Poetry Together scheme, a group of Year Nine students boarded a minibus to our local care home, Chestnut Gardens, where we shared poems on happiness and spent time engaging with the residents. Accompanied by Dr. Clayden and Mr. Stobie-Jones, we recited carefully chosen or freshly crafted poems, which were warmly received. You can see below the poems written by Akshat and Clayton. According to one of the home's employees, the residents were 'attentive and loved listening to the poems.' We’ve been learning about public speaking as part of the Elizabethan programme, so this was the ideal opportunity to practise these skills!

After the recitations, we indulged in beverages and snacks while conversing with the elderly, fostering a delightful atmosphere filled with friendly exchanges and past stories. Time passed swiftly, and we bade farewell to the residents before returning to school. It was most certainly a rewarding and enjoyable experience, spreading joy mutually among all involved. Thank you to Dr Clayden and Mr Stobie-Jones for arranging this rewarding visit for us.

Reuel and Emad, Year 9

Seasons of the Year
Clayton

Let all beings hail the wonders of the spring!
When all vegetation would strive gloriously
Following the vast annihilation in the winter.
The magical sensation which transforms the emptiness of the clean fitted sheet
Into an encyclopaedia full of fascinating colours.
A jubilant, chronological series of flowers blossoming
Perfectly complements the impeccable beauty of nature.
An inevitably harmonious symphony accompanied by the green grass
Dancing along to the gratifying tunes of birds.
Spring is the season of growth.

With its feet of exuberant puissance,
The summer kicks everyone into the pleasant outside,
Contemporaneously hypnotising the young,
In victim of a tempting, moving ball,
Attempting as if to burst the invisible wall
Surrounded by three sticks stuck perpendicular
Resembling the lower case “n”.
Summer is the season of play.

In a stroll through the faded, orange woods,
One after the other brown leaves have found their courage,
Resulting in jumping unceasingly onto the earth and animals.
The “magician” is capable of removing the soothing colour of chlorophyll,
Modifying it into an august collection of carotenoids.
An adaptive virtuoso, it could also transform the colours of the forest
Into a breathtaking chroma of yellow, red or purple.
The pigments are beyond comparison; and without doubt,
Autumn is the season of colours.

In the blink of an eye, white paint is splattered all across the world,
Leaving the formerly colourful land in a state of pure plainness.
The mischievous season turns the thermometer down
To the most extreme limit of frost.
An infinite amount of clothing, as if magically,
Magnetically attached to the humans.
It is somehow pleasing to the playful children,
Amazed by the gargantuan amount of snow.
Suddenly small spheres of snow are thrown all across the field of white,
While a human-head-sized sphere is placed onto a larger one,
Connoting a human-like figure,
With a carrot substituting for a human nose.
Snow is shrouding every attometre;
The land becomes a wonderland of plain simplicity.
Winter is the season of snow.

Utopia
Akshat

This is Utopia,
Where everything is perfect
It delivers euphoria
To every plant, to every insect

You can smell the roses,
Oh, what joy they bring.

You can feel the clear blue water,
What is this bliss occurring.

You can hear the blessed melody,
Of the nightingales singing.

These volcanoes of glee,
Engulf you in ecstasy.

Those clouds of delight,
They make you feel bright.

This utopia lets you deviate
It lets you abbreviate,
On what to celebrate.

When a smile etches on your face,
When your eyes gleam of Joy,
When you finally feel in place,
And are free from all that toil,
You know you are in Utopia,
You now belong to its soil.

The place where there is no pain,
Only peaceful hurricanes.

It may seem,
Like a dream,
However, after imagining it,
All this happiness you have gained,
Is it not better than all the previous suffering and pain?

You see, this is Utopia,
Where everything is perfect,
Where it radiates euphoria,
To every plant, to every insect.