Category: Projects

On 10th February the BLC held 2 back-to-back performance presentations of just some of the poetry written by our talented year 5 children across the cluster, inspired by TS Eliot’s Old Possums Book of Practical Cats. 240 children gathered at The Ritzy cinema screen 1 in Brixton for the events, and all classes performed poems they had written together as a class, as well as some fine solo writing and performances. What was particularly striking, was the way the children brought the structure of Eliot’s poetry into their own work, as well as experimenting with vocabulary and rhyme. In many ways, the study of these Eliot poems is secondary school stuff, but clearly the year 5s had worked to a very high level and had produced fabulous work. Now some of the poetry and artwork inspired by the project is being prepared to be exhibited in Carnegie Library in Lambeth during March. Thanks again go to the poet Jared Louche for helping the children discover Eliot’s work, to all the staff who have supported the children and to Clore Poetry and Literature Awards for funding the project.

Over the course of a week in January, 180 year 8 students from Evelyn Grace Academy explored themes from the Wasteland through photography, working with professional photographers and young volunteers from Photofusion gallery. See the students in action through these photographs.

Excited and delighted to report that my groups at St Saviours and St John Angell schools got off to a flyer and hit the targets I set them for the workshops: to pick a theme, write a ‘chorus’ – and have fun! Well done all, including the enthusiastic staff – can’t do it without you! Next time we’ll be finish writing our pieces. Glad to hear many of you are already looking forward to it. Let’s hear what you think about your experiences of the project so far…
Neal Zetter

“I’ve had a great time running workshops with Year 5 children at St John The Divine and Jessop Primary schools. We are exploring some deep, powerful issues to do with identity, community, family and the world. So far the children have been writing individual pieces, playing warm-up games and listening to and discussing one or two poems by me. In future weeks we will synthesise the individual pieces into a group poem, which the children will then rehearse and perform.

I have been struck by the enthusiasm and energy of the children, and especially by their ability and willingness to engage with important issues. However, there has also been a healthy dose of silliness and fun. For example, they said they enjoyed seeing Adisa perform, and were struck by how quickly he spoke. I then proceeded to perform the FASTEST POEM IN THE WHOLE WORLD (here is a video of me performing the poem in Edinburgh). Beat that Adisa!

http://youtu.be/a1GigzKJLTc

I look forward to continuing my work with two groups of fantastic children!”

Many thanks Joshua

Having heard Eliot’s poems, year 5 at St Saviours Primary have put pen to paper with a flourish, writing ‘If I were a cat…’ poems. Here are just a few lines to whet your appetite:

“If I were a cat
I would touch
The claws of the wind.”

“If I were a cat,
I would dance in the gaze of the moon and lick myself clean until the red fiery light of dawn rises up from its pillow.”

“If I were a cat,
I would daydream of leaping from candyfloss clouds
Without a single care in the world.
But I’m not a cat – so I can’t do any of that.”

Well done Wordsmiths of Year 5 at St Saviours!

180 students from Evelyn Grace Academy have been up to Bankside this week to take photographs inspired by themes from Eliot’s The Waste Land, working with Brixton professionals from Brixton based Photofusion gallery. Its been a week of sunshine and rain, but no snow I’m pleased to report! Some fantastic shots captured by these talented year 8s, using DSLR cameras for research and taking their carefully chosen catalyst shot on polaroid film. Brixton Learning Collaborative would like to thank Lizzy King, Adrian Wood and the team of volunteers from Photofusion who have worked 4 days solid with groups of students, as well as all the staff from Evelyn Grace Academy for their enthusiasm and creativity in supporting the young people to find a ‘way in’ to this challenging great work, The Waste Land.
Jenny Smith, Partnership Manager

Friday 10th January saw the start of the BLC Poetry Slam where all the teams met at Evelyn Grace Academy to hear and see poetry in action! 4 talented young people from years 8 and 9 from Evelyn Grace dazzled us with their wordsmithing and told us how they got into poetry: an inspiration to everyone there. The new younger teams then joined in with poetry leader and compere Adisa’s poems. Workshops start in school on 21st January, kicking off in St Saviours and St John’s Angell Town with Neal Zetter. A great start.