Poetry Society

Title of Case Study

Poetry Society

Key Stage

5

Subject

Creative Writing

Need Identified

Suffolk One students have produced some exceptional pieces of writing as part of the AS and A2 Creative Writing course since its inception in 2013.  We have also run a weekly Creative Writing club attended by a smaller number of enthusiastic students. Throughout this period we have been looking for outlets for students' work to be recognised beyond the confines of the classroom.

Case Study

We have taken part in a number of initiatives to promote students' writing beyond the classroom. As well as producing regular "in house" anthologies of students' writing, we have entered students' work in a number of poetry competitions, leading to some great successes. The college was awarded the prize for best overall entry in the prestigious Suffolk Young Poets Competition for two years in a row in 2015 and 2016, with a number of students individually commended for their work. In 2016, too, four of our students were awarded main prizes in the inaugural Woodbridge Young Poets competition. We were also very proud that one of our students was one of only 85 writers to be commended for a poem submitted to the national Foyle Young Poets competition organised by the Poetry Society – a competition which attracted around 10,000 entries from 76 countries.

In addition, the college has made links with the Suffolk Poetry Society, and in May 2016 a number of our students presented their own poetry in readings at the Suffolk Poetry Festival held at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket. Their contributions were so successful that the organisers have invited us back in 2017 to produce workshops and other activities, as well as to present further readings to Suffolk Poetry Society members. We have also extended connections with a number of writers and ex-students who have visited the college to offer their assistance.

Worth Mentioning

You can read some of the work produced by our students by visiting the Suffolk One website. Go to the "One Extra" heading and then click onto "Anthology" to see a selection of our students' work over the last three years.

Impact

These activities have helped to further the impact of students' creative writing in the centre and has offered further motivation for our students' creative efforts.

Resources Required

As with all creative work, lots of excellent examples of poetry and the opportunity to take risks and experiment with different approaches and forms.