Poetry by Heart Competition 2025
Students from all year groups - and a couple of staff - have been busy memorising poems of their choice, ready to perform them in this year's Poetry by Heart competition. This is a national poetry speaking competition which celebrates the joy of learning and performing poems.
Many students have taken part in our heats over the last few weeks, performing one pre-1914 and one post-1914 poem. The top twelve performers made it through to our Kendrick grand finals in the Hall, where they had to recite their poems in front of an audience, with marks awarded for voice, understanding, performance and accuracy. We were hugely impressed by the quality of students' performances: they had not just learned these poems word for word, but had really thought deeply about what these poems were about and how they could best communicate this to their audiences.
The uniformly high standard of our finalists made the process of adjudication particularly challenging, but after much deliberation, the results were announced:
- at KS3, the runner-up was Mudra and the winner was Tasnim;
- at KS4 the runner-up was Usmi and the winner was Michelle; and
- at KS5 the winner was Joy.
To prove that you are never too old to learn a poem by heart, Mrs Rock and Mr Nemeth also showcased their own performances - of Edward Lear's 'Jabberwocky' and William Shakespeare's 'To Be Or Not To Be' respectively, both to rapturous applause.
Our winning performers will now be entered into the national competition, and if any of them are regional winners, then they will have the chance to take part in the national final at Shakespeare's Globe in July.
Many congratulations to everyone who took part!
Mr Dilley, Head of English