Prospectus
Poetry Day Celebration
Staff and Students exploring the theme of Home
The Downs School library hosted their annual Poetry Day celebration recently. The National Poetry Day ‘Home’ theme was the focus of the occasion and staff from a wide range of school departments read poems about homesickness, leaving home, patriotism, returning home and home in the future to a pupil audience.
English staff had devoted lessons and homeworks to encouraging pupils to write their own poems for the annual competition. The pupils’ poems are displayed in the library and prizes were awarded at the event. The audience enjoyed appropriately decorated fairy cakes and participants were rewarded with coffee and apple pie and cream. The library was decorated to set the scene and ‘Home’ themed music added to the atmosphere.
Mrs Houldey (Head) said,
It was wonderful to have so many students enthused about poetry.
Lyn Stride, Library Manager, added,
It was lovely to see everyone relaxing and enjoying themselves. The finale of Fleur's poem ‘Londoner’, about the joy of returning to the city, was uplifting.
We had chosen an extract from Siobhan Dowd’s ‘Bog Child’ because we had loved reading it with our weekly library book group. Hearing the description of Feargus leaving home for a new life in England brought a tear to my eye - again.
