Farnborough Hill is delighted to announce that Sixth Form student, Lucy Chisnall, 17, was runner up in a national Classics poetry competition. This is a superb achievement. Each year The Iris Project runs an annual poetry competition which is open to everyone under the age of eighteen. Its aim is to encourage creative responses to the Classics in schools and amongst young people across the UK and beyond, in line with The Iris Project’s mission to promote Classics to a wide audience in an inclusive and engaging way. The myths and stories of the ancient world have the ability to captivate young and old from all backgrounds, and this year they have received entries from a very wide range of schools and people. The judges were Professor Edith Hall from Royal Holloway Classics Department, the poet Ruth Padel, and Henry Stead, poet and Classics doctoral student. They really enjoyed Lucy’s poem and were very impressed with its engagement with the story of Jason and the Argonauts.
In another Classics competition, Year 9 had the opportunity to submit an entry to the prestigious ‘Joint Association of Classical Teachers Jowett-Sendelar Competition 2011.’ The competition requires an essay to be written, of between 1500-2500 words, based on a choice of Classical topics. We are delighted that two girls, Rosie Barker, 15, and Laura Negus, 14, were both runners-up and received gift tokens and commendations for their work. Both girls answered the question, “The Greek Gods cause more trouble than good when they intervene in the lives of mortals.” The judges enjoyed reading their essays and commented on their coherent analysis and innovative writing styles. This is a national competition with many pupils from all around the country entering so it really is testament to the quality of both girls’ essays that they were commended.