School will host round of poetry competition

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight heats of the Poetry by Heart competition will take place at Oaklands Catholic School and Sixth Form College on February 25.

It is designed to encourage students aged 14 to 18 to learn and to recite a poem to show how they have understood and enjoyed it.

Among those competing will be sixth-form student Joe Samrai from Peter Symonds College, in Winchester, who recently won the college round.

Joe chose The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde and Machines by Michael Donaghy. He was judged on several criteria including expressiveness of voice, impression of understanding the poem and his performance.

Joe said: ‘I really enjoyed doing this; it was great fun. I used to do radio dramas and I was looking for something that would give me the chance to do something similar and so I chose to enter this competition.’