Huge thanks must go to all the boys and girls in Years 4-7, not just the finalists, and not just the winners and runners up, for the enthusiasm and panache they brought to the 2021 Poetry Recitation Competition.

It’s been a treat for us all, hearing so many exquisitely performed poems, from such a range of poets, from Kenn Nesbitt to TS Elliott, from Shell Silverstein to Edgar Allen Poe, from Pam Ayres to Simon Armitage, from Wilfred Owen to William Shakespeare. We were asking a great deal from the children as always: clarity of diction, changes of pace and tone, expression – physical and vocal, engaging the audience… and as always, they delivered in spades. Thanks go, also, to our very special guest judges – Alex Holmes, James Thain, Andrea Jones, Helen Hoffman and Susan Smith – who helped the class teachers with the near impossible task of choosing the winners and runners-up from the fantastic groups of finalists.