national Poetry Day 2025

A celebration of words and language

At Southborough High School, we place great importance on celebrating all things literary. Last Thursday was National Poetry Day, an annual mass celebration to encourage our students to enjoy, discover and share poetry. This year, we were thrilled to welcome to our school Alfiah Brown, a local poet, performer and community outreach advocate who worked as a child actor at BBC Television Centre.

Known for her immersive, multi-disciplinary work that blends poetry with visuals, rhythm and sound, Alfiah delivered a number of creative and enjoyable workshops to our Year 8 students throughout the morning around the theme ‘The Game Inside: Writing Play into Poetry’.

In each workshop -all held in our library - students were encouraged to explore how play (through sight, sound, touch, taste and smell) shapes our memories, identity and imagination. They uncovered how play, games and rules influence both the way we think and the language we use to express ourselves. By combining the sensory experience of play with the creative possibilities of poetry, students were able to write through the lens of personal memory, imagination and the games they created. The students certainly didn’t disappoint; all their fantastic work will shortly be collated and included in a special NPD Anthology for the rest of the school to read and enjoy.

At lunchtime, students from all year groups were given the opportunity to take part in a special poetry symposium in the main school hall. Again led by Alfiah, group tasks were set for each table of students and they had fun experimenting with words, themes and poetic suggestions. As a special treat, pizza was provided for all, which, suffice to say, kept the creative energy levels high!

To summarise, everyone’s efforts resulted in a day packed full of creativity and productivity. And best of all, it was a brilliant way of bringing people together in the happiest way possible –via the heart, mind and poetry.

We’d like to say a very big thank you to our special guest Alfiah Brown,  for sharing her wonderful skills and talents with our students and for making the day so special. Many thanks also to Ms Brown, Ms Salloo and the rest of the English department for organising such a rewarding and enjoyable day.