Getting Creative on Enrichment Day - February 2024

At the last Enrichment Day earlier this month, students at Barton Manor School celebrated all things poetry! As well as learning about the importance of the Creative Arts to our social and personal wellbeing, students learned about the economic benefits that this amazing industry brings to the UK, and the links between creativity and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

After tutor time, we kicked off the day with a performance and a Q&A session with World Champion Slam Poet Harry Baker who enthralled and entranced the students with his own special brand of spoken word: at times hilarious and at times poignant, students thoroughly enjoyed watching live poetry, and learning about the life and career of a working poet. Harry Baker also ran several workshops with the students throughout the day that helped students to learn the craft of writing poetry and to practice this themselves.

Through the course of the day, students participated in a range of activities that encouraged them to flex their own creative muscles. In Art, students learned about the link between Literature and Art through the works of artists such as Salvador Dali and Jeff Wall. Inspired by these great works, students created beautiful poetry and artwork from the pages of a book; combining the visual arts, their learning in English about symbolism and the words on the page, students blew us away with their skills and creativity.

In Music, students studied the work of Mercury Prize nominee Kae Tempest and were tasked with creating their own lyrical ‘rap’ around the theme of growing and changing. In Drama, students explored vocal dynamics, using the work of podcaster, Cambridge graduate and social campaigner George the Poet as inspiration. Students performed their own work and inspirational poems using the techniques and performance methods they learned.

In the afternoon, students participated in a celebration and showcase of the day’s work, with students from both Year 7 and Year 8 performing original works. From poems about space and friendship, to poems written in both Ukrainian and English about the experiences of refugees, students impressed and delighted their audience with their creativity and bravery. Special recognition was given to a number of students for their participation. Congratulations to the six very worthy winners of an Amazon voucher!