Not quite knowing what to expect, parents, caregivers, and family friends piled into JC Chalmers Hall for our annual Year 0–3 Poetry Showcase. Junior School Dean Melinda Downes kicked off the event with a hilarious poem about the horror of seeing a teacher on a Saturday, much to the delight of students and parents alike who laughed at the all-too-relatable situation. The entertainment only continued from there.

The youngest performers were from 0MQ, bravely taking the stage with a class performance of ‘One, Two, Buckle My Shoe’. We also enjoyed nursery rhymes from two individuals – Charlotte Bird and Kaylee Kong, who showed courage and great enthusiasm for performance despite having been at school for less than half a year.

Among the highlights was the Year 3 class performance of Michael Rosen’s ‘Attacked by a Banana’, a humorous poem about a mischievous banana causing chaos, which had everyone in stitches with the girls' lively expressions and impeccable timing. The poem ‘The School Bag’ by Fifi Colston, performed by 3DH, was another standout with its clever depiction of a school bag’s adventures throughout the day.

The showcase featured not only class performances but also individual recitals of original poems, showcasing the girls' creativity and hard work. These poems painted wordscapes of seasons and colours through the eyes of our youngest school members, providing a taster of the creativity being captured in class writing lessons. After the performances, parents and caregivers were given the opportunity to head to the girls’ classrooms to see their writing portfolios from the first half of the year.

After seven entertaining class poems, it is clear our Junior School is passionately in love with language. The joy in delivering the punchlines of their poems was palpable, many students grinning from ear to ear knowing the penny was about to drop for their enthralled audience. From even the youngest Year 0s, we can see a confidence and love for oral communication developing in the girls – a skill that will serve them far beyond their years of schooling.

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