TWELVE Year 7 students at Queen’s Park High School have had their work selected for publication.

The pupils took part in the Empowered Poetry Competition last term and their poems will be showcased by Young Writers, an organisation that aims to encourage young people to engage in creative writing and poetry across the UK.

For students, the last 18 months has been very difficult to navigate due to school closures, isolation, and general interruption to their education.

In response to this disruption, Young Writers invited students aged 11-18 years to write a poem for Empowered and take back control over their lives.

The competition focused on students discussing what matters to them and finding their voice, which had been restricted when they had little interaction with their peers in lockdown.

After being given the prompt, “your voice shapes you”, Year 7 students at Queen’s Park wrote a poem that helped them to feel confident and showcase what is important to them.

For the pupils who have been selected, their work will feature in an anthology due to be published next month.

Year 7 tutor, Mrs Ikpeh, said: “It's so exciting to be able to equip our students with the literary tools needed to express themselves. It brings me so much joy to see year 7s diligently searching out the vocabulary that best articulates the sentiment of their hearts.

“We're sowing seeds here at Queen’s Park High School! I cannot wait to see our students grow and flourish as prolific writers!”

A congratulations goes out to Evie, Lotte, Ruvimbo, Nicole L, Sophia, Maheen, Isabella, Tristan, Kieran, Kris, Alvaro, and Hannah.

It is possible to pre-order the anthologies showcasing their work on the Young Writers website.