HOT OFF THE PRESS

In Summer 2021, Emanuel published the debut issue of a brand new literary magazine designed to showcase students’ outstanding creative work, writes Mr Maskell...

In any given year, students produce countless pieces of highly impressive creative work across all subjects. With so many exciting projects in each and every class, it can be difficult to track just how much imaginative and individual artistry our students generate. We decided to create Emanuel’s own literary magazine as a means not only of preserving and documenting this work, but of showcasing and celebrating the exceptional and wide-ranging artistic achievements of our students.

The idea germinated with a series of creative meetings with an editorial committee of Lower-Sixth students — Phoebe (L6SEM), Rebecca (L6ASO), Rosalind (L6HHM), and Emma (L6RJB). We worked to determine the magazine style, tone, and structure before commissioning and collating work from across the school. We also decided upon the name for our publication, calling it ‘EMU’. After many months of piecing the magazine together, the debut issue was sent off to be externally printed. It was important to us that the magazine would be assembled much like a professional publication, giving students a taste of what it means to be published and edited, and to provide a long-lasting memento of their work that they can share with their families and revisit long after their school days. Printed copies arrived in the summer of 2021, and we could not be happier with the final result.

The issue begins with Poetry, commencing with twenty-six alliterative animal poems for each letter of the alphabet, inspired by Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘F for Fox’. Pupils from Years 6 to 9 collectively assembled an amazingly aural menagerie of creature-poems, from ‘A for Alpaca’ by Isak (6CAL) to ‘Z for Zebra’ by Will (9HJC), and each poem is accompanied by a beautiful illustration by Edie (9MJR).There are then personal poems about familial relationships from Year 7 pupils, namely Eliza (7AFH), James (7AFH), Flo (7AFH), Martha (7AFH), Nicole (7AFH), and Milo (7AFH). From Year 10, we then enjoy a range of formally inventive and subtle poetic explorations from Sophia (10SJB), Alice (10RET), Freddie (10RET), Sophie (10NS), and Daniela (10DGA). These are followed by the winning entries from the English department’s inaugural ‘Poet Laureate’ competition; Elsa (7AFK) won the Year 7 prize with her serene ‘Floral Quartets’, while Esme (8AEM) took home the Year 8 prize with her perceptive musing on labour and exploitation, titled ‘The Factory Worker’. The poetry section concludes with 16 Haiku poems on a variety of subjects from pupils in Years 6 to 9. The Japanese Haiku, with its extremely tight syllable count, is a deceptively simple form to master, but the published poems dazzled with their sparse and impressionistic quality. Poetry is followed by the Fiction section, where there are evocative descriptions of desert islands and jungles from Jessie (6CAL), Mia (6CB), and Sam (7MSH), alongside Hemingway-inspired minimalist tales from Aidan (8AFH) and Zac (8AFH). Pupils in Year 7 tried their hand at 100-wordshort stories with a Gothic flavour. In the Middle School, Katie (9HJC) wrote a superb re-telling of the myth of Icarus, while Lily (10CMB) produced a vivid stream of consciousness narrative to capture a frantic attempt at communication.

Then comes the Opinion section, in which students write argumentative pieces on an issue of interest to them. Clara (9VCO) addressed the presentation of neuro-divergence in film and television, while Lakshmi (9HJC) tackled Disney’s controversial reinforcement of negative cultural stereotypes. Gender imbalances in sport were highlighted by Izzy (9SDG), and Ilse (9PAK) confronted the issue of conservatorships and their exploitation of the vulnerable. In addition, Ice (10AJL) wrote a mature reflection on how Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel, American Psycho, interacts with the American Dream and, in the Sixth Form, we were treated to intelligent debates on NASA’s Martian Rovers by Annabel (L6SPP) and the recent removal of statues by Rebecca (L6ASO)

Throughout the magazine, student writing was supported by the specially-commissioned artistic talents of Roman (8AEM), Finlay (8WGD), Edie (9MJR), Rachel (9PAK), and Grace (10CMB) The Art department also supplied superb artwork from pupils across the school, including striking paintings from Ayeishah (7MM) and Lola (L6HVW).There are also excellent photographic contributions from Emma (U6RJB) — who provided the issue’s cover — and Willow (6CB) century and post-war world. In the classical field, Mr Morrison explored homoerotic subtext in Virgil and Miss Ferstman discussed how Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles reframed the Trojan narrative from the perspective of the same-sex relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. Meanwhile Festa (U6SPP) discussed the representation of queer characters in film and TV, including the acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire, whilst Ms Hoult wrote on the neglect of homosexual characters from Homer’s Iliad in the 2004 film, Troy. There were also reflections on homosexual behaviour in Biology from Miss Spruce, on the psychology of sexual fluidity from Miss Boyd, and on history’s overlooking of significant queer figures in the women’s suffrage movement from Mr Andrews

We hope that students feel proud of their contributions to this exciting new initiative. Work is already underway on the second issue, so we encourage all students to mine their creative resources and to get involved in whatever artistic endeavour suits them; from poetry to short stories, articles to illustrations, we hope to see your efforts in the next issue.

In September 2020, Emanuel celebrated its first ever Pride Week. Pride Week exists to celebrate those members of our community who are LGBTQ+ and increase understanding of awareness of issues related to LGTBQ+ wellbeing and equality.

In 2021-22, the Pride Committee aimed to increase its importance within the school community by setting up afterschool sessions for LGBTQ+ students and allies to socialise, learn, and engage with queer content in a safe space. This group has become known as ‘Prism’ and has been popular with students across the Middle and Upper School.

During the last week of the Spring Term 2022, Emanuel celebrated its second Pride Week, which was larger in scope than before.A nonuniform day with the theme “colourful” and various social activities, including a bake sale and screenings of LGBTQ+ related films, were shown. In some subjects, students enjoyed Pride-themed lessons. For example, students learned about how sexuality and gender has been explored through literature in English, the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights in History and learning about LGBTQ+ people of faith in Religious Studies. In Life Education, students had the opportunity to explore the life stories of famous LGBTQ+ people and reflect upon the various successes and challenges they had experienced in life related to their identity.

The creation of the Pride Committee over the last few years has been a real asset to the Emanuel community and will continue to raise awareness and provide a safe place for LGBTQ+ students and allies across the school.