me to find my voice and to be able to express my emotions and experiences and I’m sure it has the power to do so for way more people, especially youth.” Inke also performed their own poem ‘Toxic’ at the conclusion of the event, as the heavens opened, and the judges tent threatened to take flight. “‘Toxic’ is about my experience in this society as a non-binary person,” they said. “Through this poem I share vital bits of my identity and create more awareness for my own community. I’m honestly convinced poetry has the power to create positive change.”
Primary also hosted its own Poetry Slam, which Ceri Seymour described as a “personal highlight” of the festival. “I was amazed by the variety of ways that the theme of ‘Epic Journeys’ was interpreted by different classes and by the effort that everyone put into writing and performing their poems,” she said. There was more poetry fun courtesy of performance poet Spoz in the first week of the Festival who turned about 80 Year 4 students into “chocolate rappers” during his first session on the morning of 13 October and repeated this entertaining feat with Year 6 children later that day. “It was master class in how to write a rap all about the subject of chocolate,” said Primary teacher Harriet Powell. “The presentation may have been online, but the results were tangible: within five minutes, every Year 6 class had produced some form of rap that they presented to each other.” 12 • The British School of Brussels
The creative process was at the heart of another high-spirited session led by author and illustrator Sarah McIntyre. Her Y2 students were involved in creating their own character and book cover based on Sarah’s own Grumpycorn series. Step-by-step, the author showed the classes how to draw Grumpycorn and how to give the character their own personal twist. By adding a picture of their own favourite food to the front of its sweater and adding it to the front part of its name, the children created characters such as Spaghetticorn, Pizzacorn and Ice-Creamcorn! Year Two students had a similarly enjoyable experience with Steve Skidmore who managed to keep his classes engaged for an
hour via a video screen, which was no mean feat. “He amazed me with his ability to keep the children interested for that long,” said teacher Linda Ochsenmeier. “He gave us a glimpse of how he sees his characters when he read part of one book with all the different accents and expressions. He also gave some insights into where he gets his stories - the one about the Killer Custard was based on his own experience with a dinner lady when he was a boy. We all had fun choosing our own adventures and were left with a real appreciation for the process.” Throughout the whole festival, teaching staff were also giving away books to students and parents alike. Drawn from the BSB basement where they had been kept in storage after previous book festivals, over 100 books were gifted. “I think this is really important too,” said
