Viewing archives for Library & creative writing

Year 8 geographers have been getting creative as they grapple with the possible future effects of unchecked climate change.

The boys spent the first half of this term studying the topic, with many entering a QE competition challenging them to compose a poem or short story describing the world in the year 2100, when the world has warmed by 2 degrees.

The Geography department teamed up with Head of English Robert Hyland to judge the entries. Keon Robert has now been announced as the winner in the short story category, while Shreyas Chandrasekar was adjudged to have submitted the best poem.

Emily Parry, Head of Geography, said: ‘I was very impressed with the standard of submissions and the boys’ awareness of the potential impacts of climate change. The creative poems and stories clearly highlight the threat that climate change poses for all of us.”

The competition results were announced as the British Government unveiled its plan for a “green industrial revolution”, bringing forward a ban on petrol and diesel cars and announcing other measures, such as an expansion of offshore wind, hydrogen and nuclear power generation.

In his story, entitled Our Planet is on Fire, Keon imagined a dystopian future in a polluted city of 3 billion souls, its population swelled by immigrants from other countries seeking refuge from the effects of climate change.

There is no respite from the gloom: the story ends with the protagonist attending a meeting at his factory which, as he suspected, is to be closed down, as the authorities  try desperately – “too little, too late” – to deal with the crisis.

He reflects ruefully on the missed opportunities to deal with climate change that had brought the world to this point: “We knew it was going to happen, but we never did anything about it. In the end, it strikes us when we least expect it.”

Most of Shreyas’s poem is equally bleak – “none of us will survive” – and he adds anger into the mix:

Throw your wrath, your fury, your ire
To those who destroyed our Earth

But his work, entitled Every Little Helped, ends with just a hint of optimism, the voice from the future warning us that all may not yet be lost:

It’s time to act, to change, to make a better choice,
Or there will be no Earth left at all.

Riyan Siyani, who took second place in the poetry category, imagines how his grandchildren’s generation might look back on the present day:

It is the year 2100,
Nothing is the same, all hope has been squandered
We look back to the year of 2020
And remember how food was aplenty.

The runner-up in the short story category was Adam Liang, who draws out the effects of climate change on nature and on different groups in society, including the young – “babies are crying constantly…children complaining that it’s too hot” – and the old – “the first to go…they wasted and wilted away, just like dead flowers in the wind”.

• Main image above by Tumisu from Pixabay

The English department celebrated National Poetry Day by putting together a collection of QE teachers’ favourite poems which included verse that was variously inspiring, thought-provoking and just sheer fun.

Staff from across the departments took part, showing pupils that poetry is enjoyed by teachers from all subject areas. Boy were invited to approach them during the day and ask them about their choices.

The selected poems ranged from ancient to modern, from the emphatically high-brow to some much-loved examples of nonsense verse.

The anthology included poems by two Old Elizabethan poets, George Mpanga (George the Poet, 2002–2009) and QE’s poet-in-residence, Anthony Anaxagorou (1994–1999). Anthony, who runs a weekly poetry workshop for the boys, gave his reaction to the National Poetry Day initiative: “The students of ‘QE Boys’ continue to show a great appetite and appreciation for poetry, which is so heartening to see.”

Head of English Robbie Hyland explained why he had asked colleagues to reveal their favourite lines: “Everyone has a connection with poetry at some point in their lives – we read poems as children, study them at school, and encounter them throughout everyday life. I hope that by sharing poems that resonate with us, we can spark conversations about the values, ideas, and memories that matter to us as individuals.

“The staff have nominated an incredibly wide-ranging selection, from poems that inspire, to poems that address problematic issues in the modern world. I’ve really enjoyed reading the selections which teachers have nominated.”

Boys were informed about the plans for the day during registration, when they were shown a PowerPoint presentation of the teachers’ choice of poems and led in a brief discussion. In total, some 45 poems were picked by 34 teachers.

Here is a selection:

• Grounded, by Anthony Anaxagorou: chosen by Headmaster Neil Enright
• Poem 85 (ōdi et amō), by Catullus: chosen by Mr Hyland
• The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost: chosen by Technology teacher Sean Kelly
• Home by Warsan Shire: chosen by Deputy Head (Academic) Anne Macdonald
• First They Came, by Martin Niemöller: chosen by History teacher Akhil Gohil
• Errinerung an die Marie A., by Bertolt Brecht: chosen by Languages teacher Rebecca Grundy
• Ozymandias, by Shelley: chosen by Head of Library Services Surya Bowyer
• He is blessed as a god by Sappho: chosen by Assistant Head (Pupil Involvement) Crispin Bonham-Carter

The top photos show Year 8’s Pranav Challa and William Fawcett asking History teacher Simon Walker and Geography teacher Helen Davies about their choices of poem – T S Eliot’s Macavity: the Mystery Cat and Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky respectively – with Mr Hyland also joining them for the chat.

The full selection of the teachers’ chosen poems has been added to the School’s eQE digital learning platform, where there is also a National Poetry Day resource to encourage further exploration of poetry.

A poem by QE pupil Surya Senthilkumar is being published this month in a special anthology created to raise spirits during the coronavirus crisis.

Year 8 boy Surya’s poem, The Pathway to Triumph!, was selected to feature in an international collection of writing from the Young Writers organisation entitled Write To Unite – Together We Stand.

Young Writers Editorial Manager Jenni Harrison said the anthology aimed to “spread positivity, give thanks, share stories, purge worries and record [contributors’] thoughts during lockdown.

“It’s history in the making and will make an incredible keepsake of an unprecedented time,” she said, adding that more than 4,000 adults, children and families had been involved in the project, contributing writing in various genres.

Surya’s 10-line poem, which is set out below, includes a call for unity – “Only as one will we overcome this disaster” – and a paean to front-line workers battling the virus – “Let us praise the NHS staff at toil”.

Asked for his reaction to his success, he adapted the last line of his poem, saying: “Endeavour from the beginning, and you shall succeed till the end!”

Surya’s triumph comes as GCSE poetry workshops led by QE’s poet-in-residence Anthony Anaxagorou get under way at the School again, helping to develop boys’ creative thinking and writing skills ahead of their English GCSE. Old Elizabethan Anthony (1994–1999) made headlines last month when he spoke out against a Government announcement that poetry was to become optional in next year’s GCSE English examination.

For every copy of the book sold by Young Writers, £1 will be donated to NHS Charities Together. Young Writers is an organisation that has been promoting poetry and creative writing within schools and through poetry competitions for the past 29 years.

The Pathway to Triumph

For the nation, we have loved for years,
Our faith and effort shall polish away the tears,
Thy actions must roar wiseness and care,
Avoiding the faces of sorrow and despair,
Only as one will we overcome this disaster,
By being resolute we can prevent the spread faster,
Let us praise the NHS staff at toil,
Valiant and loving, holding our nation up like soil,
So, let us conquer this misfortune together,
By being wise and cooperative, we continue to endeavour!

Old boy and QE poet-in-residence Anthony Anaxagorou has spoken out against this week’s Government announcement that poetry will become optional in next year’s GCSE English examinations.

Anthony was quoted by the BBC in its report on reaction to the announcement from examinations watchdog Ofqual, while his fellow Old Elizabethan, George the Poet (George Mpanga 2002–2009), was also pictured and mentioned in the article.

And Headmaster Neil Enright said today: “Poetry is, and will remain, core to the curriculum at QE. Throughout last term’s remote learning, staff ensured that poetry kept its important place in lessons delivered through our eQE virtual learning platform.

“We also found that encouraging boys to compose their own poems was a very stimulating, creative activity for the lockdown. And prior to the pandemic, Anthony’s workshops were always a popular draw for the boys.”

Ofqual originally proposed that there would be no changes to the English literature GCSE examination in 2021, but, following a consultation in which some respondents argued that it was hard for pupils “to get to grips with complex literary texts remotely”, the organisation has now said schools can focus on a smaller number of texts.

All pupils will have to write about a Shakespeare play, but they can choose two out of the three remaining content areas: poetry; the 19th-century novel and post-1914 British fiction and drama.

In response, Anthony (OE 1994–1999) said: “Poetry shouldn’t be regarded as an analytical exercise, a response to memory, a means of introducing literary device. Poems do so much more, getting into spaces [and] subjects other modes of language can’t.

“Presenting it as an ‘option’ does nothing but reduce its cultural value more.”

During the Summer Term, School departments including English and Modern Languages ran a number of poetry competitions, and boys’ poems were published in The Arabella – a magazine featuring the work of pupils which is published by the boys.

Teachers found ways to teach poetry remotely, with, for example, the English department making extensive use of pre-recorded video with Year 12 classes, particularly for challenging passages in Shakespeare, Chaucer and the poetry of Wilfred Owen.

A new podcast series from The Queen’s Library starts with a look at the contemporary challenge of climate change, while Library staff have also put together a lavishly illustrated historical account of a Londoner facing a pandemic even worse than the present one.

Both the podcast and the account – about Samuel Pepys and the Great Plague of 1665 – are part of an extensive selection of content curated by Head of Library Services Surya Bowyer for boys to access during the pandemic lockdown.

The 27-minute first episode of the podcast series, entitled Roundness, looks at the issue of climate change, examining evidence from around the world and taking as its starting point President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. It features audio clips and music, as well as a commentary from Mr Bowyer.

The podcast, which is available on subscription from online providers including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, quotes experts from a range of disciplines, including investment bank Morgan Stanley’s chief executive, James Gorman, who recently told a congressional committee: “If we don’t have a planet, we’re not going to have a very good financial system.”

The podcast may also be accessed from the Library’s pages on eQE – the School’s portal for boys, parents, staff and other members of the Elizabethan community.

The Library’s extensive eQE section includes a Book of the Week, as well as a host of other recommended reading on the Lockdown Reading page, some of it recommended for particular age groups, some suitable for all.

“There are quick links to huge selections of free e-books and to free audiobooks. And there is our own Virtual Culture guide to virtual museums and galleries for lockdown and beyond,” says Mr Bowyer.

The Arabella magazine, a publication produced by pupils and featuring pupils’ own written and visual contributions, is hosted by the Library’s eQE section.

Mr Bowyer adds: “One coping strategy when we face a crisis like Covid-19 is to document our experiences in some way. More than 350 years ago, that was exactly what Samuel Pepys, a young civil servant living in London, did in his diary when the capital was hit by the Great Plague in 1665 – the worst epidemic in England since the Black Death of 1348. His reaction, and that of his fellow Londoners, is set out in our Pepys and the plague page.”

The page features 12 illustrations, most of them contemporaneous drawings, as well as extracts from Pepy’s diary detailing what he saw and heard – “so many poor sick people in the streets full of sores” – and the gradual recovery over many months until, in February 1666, London was deemed safe enough for King Charles II and his court to return.

Head of Library Services Surya Bowyer has been making sure that boys are aware of the wealth of resources that are available online – both for study and for leisure.

He is using the shutdown to develop the way the Library team uses technology. And, as a result, they are not only supporting the boys in the holidays and in their remote learning during term time, but also deriving benefits that will long outlast the current crisis.

“When it became clear that schools would be forced to close as a result of Covid-19, our first thought was: ‘What does a library do when its doors are locked and lights turned off?’” Mr Bowyer says.

In the first few days, a small number of boys whose parents were designated key workers used the library to continue their studies. Meanwhile, for boys at home, the Library team has shared audiobooks and e-book databases, and they are recommending a Book of the Week, which is made available to read free online. The first recommendation was Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

“We have also released a list of activities of things you can do with the book you are reading, that go beyond simply reading… for example, designing a map of the book’s locations, or designing a new book cover.”

Mr Bowyer and Library Services Assistant Corinna Illingworth have also put together their own guide to digital galleries and museums that are available to browse online. “There’s a wealth of art and history out there on the internet: it’s our job, as librarians, to publicise and share these resources throughout the QE community.

“This is a key issue with the internet more widely – there is a lot of information, so much so that it’s often difficult to get a sense of what is worth your time. This is a key job of The Queen’s Library during these increasingly digital times,” said Mr Bowyer.

A number of activities and competitions have taken place to stretch the boys and encourage them to use their imagination and be creative. These included a ‘blackout’ poetry workshop, during which boys had to black out the majority of a piece of text, leaving only a handful of words to make a poem. Head of English, Robert Hyland, launched a Brave New World poetry competition, which was followed by an art competition on the same theme.

Just before the sudden start of the shutdown, the editorial team were able to put together the second edition of the Arabella – the pupils’ own magazine, open to contributors from Years 7-13. Included in this online edition, which may be viewed here on eQE by current QE families, are poetry, prose and art.

Editor-in-chief Josh Osman, of Year 13, said: “Sadly we were unable to put out a print edition. But the Arabella has been our way of uniting the School through creativity, taking in submissions from all year groups.”

Josh also heralded the success of the blackout poetry workshop: “It allowed people who would not otherwise have ventured into poetry to try their hand at something accessible yet deceptively complex.”