St John’s College School has been named winner of the SATIPS (Support and Training in Prep Schools) Poetry Competition 2012, a national competition aimed at children in Years 3 to 8. Anna Mullock, 12, was awarded 1st place in the Years 7 and 8 category for her poem ‘Typewriter’ and Lucy Howard, 11, was awarded 3rd place in the same category for her poem ‘Quiet’. Commendations were also received by William Hogarth and Eloise Lipscombe, both 11, and Isabella Greenwood, 13.
The competition exists to support and encourage the excellent teaching of poetry within schbools. Each year, around 1000 entries are submitted from schools across the country. This year’s competition was judged by the National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, who congratulated St John’s for our “wonderful work, range and quality, in all age groups”, which showed “evidence of sensitive work with poetry”. Mr Ashley Smith, Head of English said: “We are thrilled to be honoured with the title of Winning School in the SATIPS Poetry Competition 2012. The school is blessed with teachers who enjoy sharing their passion for poetry and children who never cease to find ways of expressing themselves with jaw-dropping imaginative originality through poetry.”
An anthology of all the winning poems is to be published for download on the SATIPS website in due course http://www.satips.com/.