“The sun shone shiny bright over the hills of Beaufort town, children playing in the black tarmac black playground.”
You might think this sounds like the beginning of a poem and you’d be right. This is what year 5 were tasked with at Beaufort Hill Primary school in celebration of International Dylan Thomas Day on May 14th.
As part of a new and exciting programme of work for Welsh language and culture the Council invited all schools in Blaenau Gwent to enter a competition to recreate a poem about their local area in the style of the famous poet, and Welsh icon, Dylan Thomas.
The year 5 class at Beaufort Hill Primary School submitted a number of creative poems. The poems showcased the pupil’s imagination, creativity, and writing skills about local landmarks such as Caerphilly and Raglan Castle. The teachers at Beaufort Hill Primary School were so impressed by the quality of their submissions and the effort put in by the pupils that they invited Councillor Sue Edmunds, Cabinet Member for Education and Vikki Alexander the Welsh Language Support Officer for Blaenau Gwent Council to a special assembly to showcase their poems and celebrate the life of Dylan Thomas.
The year 5 and 6 choir sang a beautiful rendition of the Eli Jenkins prayer from the acclaimed Under Milk Wood, which was performed perfectly with emotion. Councillor Sue Edmunds praised the school and the pupil’s efforts and was delighted to present the class with a hamper of literature resources to keep up their great work.
“I want to thank Beaufort Hill primary for inviting me to share their assembly and thank you, year 5 for the beautiful poems you created. I enjoyed reading every one of them and I hope you continue to write. Many of you really are very good at it!” Commented Councillor Sue Edmunds after the beautiful assembly.
“It was so lovely to see all their hard work pay off. It filled me with joy to witness the pride on the children’s faces reading their work, I was honoured to have been invited. My role is funded via the Shared Prosperity Fund and means I can attend these lovely engagement events where I get to not only create cultural posts and fun online content. The role also gives me the opportunity to get out in the community and meet these beautiful Blaenau Gwent people and all that the valley has to offer. Its these people that make all the difference to our Welsh language and culture and it is definitely something that should be celebrated.” Our Welsh Language Support Officer Vikki Alexander commented after the event.
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