Two Reading College and University Centre students have received highly commended awards in a national poetry speaking competition, Poetry By Heart.
Poetry By Heart is a national poetry speaking competition for schools and colleges in England. The competition invites young people to choose a poem, learn it by heart and perform it aloud, or perform one of their own poems.
Over 1,600 schools took part this year; 128,000 young people performed a poem; and over 4,300 were entered into the competition final.
Ashleen Kaur, 17, from Earley, is one of the students from Reading College and University Centre who took part in the competition. She is studying an Esports Level 2 Diploma at the college on King’s Road.
For her entry, Ashleen picked two poems to perform, one written before 1914, and one written after 1914. Ashleen chose ‘Convalescence’ by Amy Lowell for the first category, and ‘The Gift of India’ by Sarojini Naidu for the second category.
To submit her entries, Ashleen filmed herself reading each poem aloud. Ashleen received two highly commended certificates and feedback for each entry.
Ashleen said: “I feel honoured to be highly commended. I chose to read ‘The Gift of India’ because I’m South-Asian and my mum, who is from India, has always encouraged me with these sorts of things, so it was a tribute to her as she’s inspired me a lot as a person.
“I chose to read ‘Convalescence’ as I really liked the rhythm and structure of it. It made me feel calm when I read it.
“Taking part in Poetry By Heart has made me grow in confidence. Since taking part, I’ve been speaking out more and joining in more at college. I’d really recommend it to someone else if you’re shy or nervous as it brings you out of your shell.”
In September, Ashleen will start studying A Levels in Criminology, Law and Sociology at Reading College and University Centre.
Laila Mejri, 17, from Reading also took part in the competition. She is currently studying A Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Geography at Reading College and University Centre.
She chose to submit a film of herself reading two of her own poems which she had written before the competition.
Speaking about her two poems, Laila said: “The first poem, titled ‘Undiagnosed’, is about autism and being undiagnosed for most of my life.
“The second poem, titled ‘Fruit basket’, was about trying to fit yourself into a mould for other people, and them using you, but then it’s not really yourself at the end of the day.”
Laila received a highly commended certificate for one of the poems and a commended certificate for the other poem. She also received feedback from the judges for each poetry reading.
She said: “It’s good because normally I just write poems for myself. Sometimes I feel useless but doing something like this makes me realise that there are things I can do.
“Poetry is a hobby, and I thought that no-one really likes poetry, but this makes me remember that there’s a big community who do.”
Laila will continue her A Levels at Reading College and University Centre in September.
Philip Trivett, GCSE English Teacher at Activate Learning, said: “I’m over the moon that the students have felt confident to be able to bring their poetry, or poetry they have chosen, to life, but also that it means so much to them.
“It’s lovely to hear that they get the confidence boost, and they feel fulfilled in the process. For students to feel that they’ve been enriched through this process is fantastic.
“I’m overjoyed for Ashleen, and I hope that this passion for poetry will continue and lead to many life-changing things.
“Laila’s poems were from her heart and were about places of struggle and pain. Clearly, she has found that it has helped her in the role to go through life and experience life, give her a voice and to be part of the process of healing and wholeness.
“It takes tremendous courage to write that kind of emotion and even more to speak it. To enter a national competition – that’s an amazing level of courage to which she should be commended for.”
Alongside their certificates and feedback, each student was given a book of poetry by Poetry By Heart.
Find out more about the career pathways on offer at Reading College and University Centre or contact Activate Learning on 0800 612 6008.
