Cheam School

The half term holiday began with a splash with a Poetry and Prose presentation on the theme of ’The Sea’.

There were extracts from classics, such as The Ancient Mariner and Shakespeare’s The Tempest and The Comedy of Errors as well as some lesser known pieces, such as Cavafy’s Ithaka and Toczek’s The Puddle.

The readings were interspersed with musical interludes: Mr Bishop accompanied the Taverner choir singing ’They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships’ and Mr Bennett performing ’Sea Fever’ while Jemima gave us a very sensitively played harp piece.

One highlight of the occasion was the performance of some original pieces. ’Sea Sculptures’, written and performed by 8KR, was a very atmospheric opening to the whole presentation. It is clear that Cheam has some very talented writers.

As always, Mrs Haymes had worked very hard to coordinate the whole event and to write the final piece, ’Seaside Accommodation’, in which Louis played a rather formidable landlady!

A huge number of performers from Years 6-8 took part, after working on these pieces in English lessons with their teachers, Mrs Haymes, Ms Debney, Mr Pugsley and Mrs Hyder. As always the performance was only possible with the support of other colleagues who helped with music, lighting and sound effects. However, it was the wonderful performances of the children which made this Poetry and Prose so memorable.