Lyla's all smiles after poetry plaudits
A six year-old pupil has received a ‘commended’ award in a national poetry competition.
Lyla Rolfe, aged six, is a Year One pupil at Tilstock CE Primary School who is celebrating after taking part in a national poetry competition.
Poetry by Heart is a national recitation competition for schools and colleges in England. A couple of months ago, pupils at Tilstock CE Primary School were challenged to choose one poem they loved, learn it off by heart and then share it aloud with their peers.
The children were encouraged to build their confidence through regular repetition and also consider how they performed the poem to best capture the attention of the audience. Once pupils had shared their performance, the school chose a winner from each year group who received a prize reward. Entries were then put forward to partake in the national Poetry by Heart competition.
Lyla learnt the poem ‘In The Tree’s Defence’ by A.F. Harrold and was one of the youngest entries in the competition. She received an award from Poetry by Heart signed by Director and founder, Julie Blake, and a letter containing personal feedback from the judging team.
Mrs Rowena Kaminski, head of school, said: “There are many great developmental benefits of poetry for children. Poetry helps with language development, creative writing skills, self-expression and development of natural rhythms.
"Working creatively with sentence structures, helps improve writing skills, which is a big aim for us at Tilstock CE Primary School. Another of our aims at Tilstock is to ensure that when our pupils leave school, they are confident to stand up and speak in public and the Poetry by Heart competition has created the perfect opportunity to improve these vital speaking skills.
"This is a brilliant example of how our curriculum provides national opportunities for our pupils. This not only honoured Lyla's commitment, but will inspire and encourage others to keep learning poems by heart! Well done Lyla, we are so proud of you!”
See Lyla's clip here:
See the school's other entries at tilstockprimaryschool.co.uk/poetry-by-heart/.
