We saw the launch of the inaugural Ardingly Poetry Conference for Fifth and Sixth Form pupils from Ardingly and Varndean College recently!
Focused on the theme of connections, the conference began with an illuminating keynote talk by poet, artist and teacher, Duncan Forbes, in which he traced his own personal connection to poetry from his school days to the present.
Following this, Upper Sixth pupils asked a panel of experts, including Duncan, performance poet Erin James, Jake Lund (formerly of Ardingly College, now of Varndean) and Dr Oliver Southall of Hurst College, a selection of questions and were treated with generous and wide-ranging answers.
In the afternoon, all students attended workshops on both the creative writing process and the analysis of poetry: the diversity of approaches on offer made this a particularly rich part of the day. Hopefully, the conference achieved its aim of inspiring pupils to read and write more poetry and, by doing so, connect with the world around them.
