The Packwood theatre was packed last week for the final of our annual poetry elocution competition. Kristina Leslie, Head of English at Shrewsbury School, kindly came to adjudicate. The Year 3 & 4 category was won by Sophie, with her expertly measured delivery of ‘The Sound Collector’, by Roger McGough. First place in the Year 5 & 6 section went to Geordie, with his wonderfully clear ‘Instructions for Growing Poetry’.
The senior final saw a particularly high standard with poetry recited from Blake, Shakespeare and WB Yeats. The elocution cup was awarded to Ethan in Year 7 for his amusing and word-perfect rendering of ‘Colonel Fazackerley Butterworth-Toast’, a comic poem by Charles Causley. The whole event, in which staff also read out favourite poems, was a culmination of several weeks of class and year group finals, in which all prep school pupils learnt a poem by heart.
