The poet Isabelle Baafi was the guest of the English Department on Tuesday 16th June and as one Sixth Former commented, "Her visit allowed students a rare opportunity to engage directly with a writer at the forefront of modern poetry." Isabelle is garnering awards and nominations for her collection Chaotic Good, nominated for the TS Eliot Prize and currently on the shortlist of the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize (fingers crossed for the announcement in a week or so). 

Isabelle ran a poetry workshop for invited students from Year 9 and above, encouraging critical analysis and building on the theme of "Beauty in unexpected places". Students wrote their own pieces in response to prompts, before a highlight of the workshop which was a reading Isabelle gave from her collection, before taking questions from the students. The dazzling elasticity of the language in Isabelle's poems, coupled with the honesty and sense of sharing were the aspects that struck the students who all  listened so intently. She  demonstrated the positive power of writing, and demonstrated the possibilities of the form to students. 

The English Department have a great track record of promoting poetry with students, and this was another feather in their cap. The fantastic afternoon was topped-off by the announcement  that Isabelle will be returning in the Autumn to run a series of five workshops for selected students. We can't wait to hear more from her and from the students she inspires. 

Creative writing plays an important part in the work of the English Department. The department runs a weekly Creative Writing club, and we hold regular poetry workshops delivered by published poets.  In addition to this, the English and Drama departments jointly deliver a National Theatre programme called New Views, and this provides a series of workshops and visits from published playwrights in order to encourage budding dramatists. 

 We also encourage pupils to enter local and national writing competitions, and we have had winners and runners up each year. We celebrate the girls’ achievements by displaying their work around the school and publishing it in online flip books. Please click on this link to access the latest edition of the online line flip book versions of Scribe and the Lisa Kelly Poetry Booklet  - both are on the front page of the Veritas Times.     https://theveritastimes.sapriory.com/