We are proud to share news that Jamila Salim’s in Upper 5 has had an outstanding result in the national Poetry by Heart competition. As well as coming in the top ten nationally she has been named the Hertfordshire regional winner. Additionally she received a special commendation for her performances. Jamila’s first poem was an extract from Paradise Lost (Book 1) by John Milton and the judges commented that her reading was a ‘powerful and impressive reading of a very demanding text’. The second poem was What If by Benjamin Zephaniah and the judges commented on her ‘suitably impassioned’ delivery and that she captured ‘the sardonic wit’ of the poem.
The live finals of the event were cancelled and were instead held via video link with performances judged by, according to the Poetry By Heart Website, ‘a fantastic team of poets and poetry experts, including the poets Glyn Maxwell, Daljit Nagra, Paul Munden, Valerie Bloom, Raymond Antrobus and Joshua Seigal; expert poetry anthologist Allie Esiri, and poetry educators Charlotte Hacking of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education and David Whitley of Homerton College, Cambridge’.
Many congratulations to Jamila for her fantastic achievement.
