Students' thoughts of the experience:
"On Thursday 25th September a group of Year 7 pupils went to York on the train for a poetry trip. Pete Sansom, a famous poet came with us and helped us write our poems. Pete asked us to write poems on the train and it was really fun. When we got off the train we did some more poetry in the station and then we went for a walk writing on the way.
At lunchtime we went to a park outside York Minster and ate there. I made lots of new friends and we talked for ages. After we had finished our lunch we went and stood outside York Minster and had a traditional picture taken that is taken every year - everyone puts up their umbrellas to make one big one, (another of Mr Pickford's ideas!).
When the picture had been taken we went inside the Minster and had a look around - it was so nice! There was an immense orchestra performing and they were amazing. After we watched them play we went and sat down on the floor next to some hand carved statues of people singing in a choir. We also wrote poems about them. Mr Pickford, Mrs Shores and Pete came around and helped us. Then Pete asked us to write about what we saw in the Minster and the majority of us wrote about how tall the building was, because as soon as we walked in, we were shocked at how far away the ceiling was from us.
We then left the Minster and walked to a sweet shop (my favourite bit!) in York. Pete asked us to write a poem about the shop and when we had finished we went in and bought some sweets.
After that we walked back to the train station and waited for our train back to Harrogate. When the train came we got on and looked at the poems we had written. It was a great day!" - M.P.
"i was so excited about meeting Pete again and I couldn't wait to show him the poem I wrote on the day we visited York. Nothing much had changed about Pete, except he had a new haircut (which looked very nice!). Pete noticed we were a bit tired, so he started the day with a simple sense poem where we had to write about what we smelt, heard, tasted, saw and felt when we woke up this morning. We then moved on to writing about our houses but Pete asked us to make it up so we said things like 'my house is in the middle of the ocean' and 'my house loves to sing'. I found it really fun and loved inventing all kinds of things. After that we imagined being at home with a magic microphone. This allowed us to spy on other people's conversations and thoughts.
Later on, after lunch, Pete asked us to think of a feeling or aspect of life. I chose tiredness and the future. We wrote these poems as if we were that aspect or feeling. Then Pete asked us to think of a treasured possession and write what life would be like as that object. We all felt we needed some fresh air so we went for a walk with Mr Pickford and Pete. Mr Pickford gave us a tour of Bede House. We wrote a few poems under the trees in Bede car park. Finally, we went to an IT classroom and typed up our favourite poems.
I had a great day and really recommend it! I am really proud of some of the poems I have written, but I could not have written them without the help of Pete and Mr Pickford". - T.S. |
