The audience remained captivated throughout, and the students deserved high commendation for their outstanding effort and presentation.

They explored, interpreted, learned, and carefully polished one or two poems, and, should they progress to the finals, will have the opportunity to perform on the atmospheric stage of Shakespeare's Globe later this summer. Their choices were varied in period, style, form, language, and subject matter, and all poems were personally selected and refined by pupils with minimal guidance. Over just a few short weeks, they demonstrated tremendous commitment and enthusiasm as they muttered, declaimed, intoned, and even danced their way through the verse.

Some of the poems performed included Remember by Christina Rossetti, Russian Doll by Rachel Rooney, Not My Best Side by U. A. Fanthorpe, If— by Rudyard Kipling, and I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth.