MFL and Classics Poetry Declamation

On Friday 28 February, the MFL and Classics Poetry Declamation grand final took place in the Monty Room, celebrating the linguistic and oratory talents of our Fourth Form pupils.

The competition, which saw 26 students participate as class winners across French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Latin, was an incredible showcase of skill, determination and passion for poetry. All the boys who took part had won the finals in their respective classes. They all performed brilliantly, impressing us not only with their commitment to memorisation but also with the depth of feeling and understanding they brought to their recitations. This year marked a milestone too, with every single finalist having fully memorised their poem, delivering it with confidence, emotion and demonstrating a true grasp of its meaning. All the participants went home with a Certificate of Achievement and received an SPS Commendation.

The decision-making process for the grand winner in each language was incredibly difficult though, with many performances coming very close, but our overall winners stood out for their diction, pronunciation, memorisation, and ability to interpret the poem with confidence in front of a room full of spectators. Yidong Xu was awarded first place for French, Sehwan Lim for German, Zach Sadighi for Italian, Samuele Bertolo for Spanish, and Max Magalhães for Latin. Each of the overall winners received a trophy, a poetry book in their competition language, and an SPS academic distinction, in addition to their finalist certificate. A huge congratulations to all the students who competed: it is no small feat to stand up and recite a poem entirely from memory and we were incredibly proud of the talent and dedication on display!