Sixth Form Essay Competition

Connell Guides are guides to great literature for Sixth Form students.  They aim to make the process of critical analysis an easier experience.  I will definitely be buying them for the library when we return in September.

They also run an annual essay prize, perfect for those of you who are hoping to study English at university and who want to practise their writing skills.  The competition will open in September.  Click here to read last year's winning entry.

Highlands School Poetry Competition...Winners!!!

Students were asked to write using summer as a theme.  We had 80 entries and here are some of the results:

 Year 9 Winners

Summer (When I met you)

by Timothy

When I met you summer,
As the leaves turn green,
In all of nature's wonder,
You are at your best.

When I met you summer,
It was like heaven,
I feel warm when you are around,
Like a constant dream.

When I met you summer,
You stay three months
Why do you leave at August's end?

Oh how good to see you summer.

Summer (When I met you) was chosen as a winner because of the interesting use of personification.  The poet addresses summer as if they are welcoming a dear friend, yet there is always a sense that this time will be short-lived.  The use of repetition of the phrase 'How I met you', made it really stand out.

The Death of Summer
(excerpts)
by Zoe

'The waking light of early dawn,
Illuminates the cloth that has been torn,
The dull hard glow of almost death,
Count down the hours that I have left,
23, 22, 21, 20.'

'My brown as bark hair,
My green dress, picked out with care,
My sweet rose-pink lips,
My sky-blue eyes, round as cherry pips,

0.0 hours left.

My name is Summer.  I must depart this life.
But i shall return.  Farewell."

The Death of Summer was chosen as a winner as it was a strikingly original poem which counts down to the end of summer.  The poet uses frightening imagery to make the poem effective and turns the idea of a cheery summer poem on its head.

 Year 10 Winners

Summer

by Eren

 Swift step on the escalator
Descending down to the subway.
The last beam of sunlight gone.
The air suffocating, blistering, sweltering.

Bodies crammed and wedged
Filling the air with a foul scent.
Jostling, shoving, bartering my way thorugh,
Wishing I had the genes of ginats

Inhaling the pungent body odour
Stacked in the compact train
Distorted and compressed against others wihtout their consent.
A pole intended for support becomes a slippery post
From the sweaty palms of unfortunate others
Suffering together in the heat of summer
Within the London Underground.

Finally, propelling myself off the train
Leaving the humidity tolinger and devour the others.
Ascending the escalator to the outer world
The natural sunlight and invigorating air signalling freedom
In the heat of British Summertime.

Summer is a poem which highlights the negative side of summer in the city using striking imagery.

Island

by Eleanor

Once burning cold,
When the glaciers shaped it.
Now burning hot,
As the sun melts it.
Scarred,
Cracked,
But home.

The humming birds next here,
Emerald,
Ruby and white.
Glint in the noon sun.
Raising their children,
on the lonely island,
on the edge of the bay.

Despite the birds and
Sharp and harsh,
needle pines.
The island is lonely.
Shrieks of children no longer echo,
They don't climb on it's cliffs,
Or row out to it.

Moon coloured pebbles,
Scattered like tears.
The Island weeps.

But there is one child,
Older now.
Lonely too,
Taking comfort in the lake,
Painting.

The Island does not know
Or ever will know,
Why the child,
Is as downcast as a stormy sky.

A smudge of a sail boat,
Appears on the horizon.
The Island feels a boat,
Being pushed off.

The child leaves.
Leaves the painting,
Submerged in the water.
A picture of concentrated,
Anger,
Sorrow,
Tears,
Beauty.

Island is a majestic story poem, subtle and simple which transports the reader to a magical eslewhere.

Well done to our prize winners.  Our best entries will all be entered for the Foyle's young poet award! Good luck everyone.

E-book sample: 'Let's Get Lost'

'Let's Get Lost' by Adi Alsaid is a YA book about a road trip. It is similar to 'Paper Towns' by John Green.  Click here to read a sample.

The 100!

Are you looking for a new book to keep you reading since finishing The Hunger Games?  Are you a fearless reader who devoured Divergent?  Fear not reader, there is a new series to keep you entertained just in time for the summer holiday. Have you heard of Kass Morgan's post-apocalyptic teen thriller the 100? Click here to read the Good Reads review.

There are so many great books being released at the moment but this one really seems worth the hype. There are already two books in the series and it has been made into a series which is showing on Mondays on Channel 4.