Flintshire school publishes poetry book surrounding theme of lockdown

A Flintshire school has published a book containing more than eighty poems and pieces of artwork by fellow students surrounding the theme of lockdown.

Flint High School printed the book after first launching a project back in May where students recorded their life experiences during the lockdown period.

Literacy coordinator Nicola Paulson originally came up with the idea of creating a ‘Lockdown Anthology’ where students could express their thoughts or feelings and she is thrilled to see their work in print.

“I have been absolutely amazed by the incredible response to the project,” Nicola said.

“The poems in the anthology have been written by students and staff as well as some members of the local community, and this communication of people’s thoughts and feelings, at such a challenging time, will act as a piece of social history.

“The published anthology has been very well received so far, with many finding the poems interesting and moving to read. People have also been impressed by the quality of the book and the mix of presentational devices used.

“Our plan is to make a food bank donation with some of the funds raised from sales of the anthology, thereby allowing writing about COVID-19 to actively help people in the local community who may have been affected by it. The power of the pen!

“I would like to thank Mr Connelly, our headteacher, for supporting this project and enabling us to have the anthology printed so that those involved can experience the thrill of seeing their work in print. It has been so wonderful to see something positive come from such a difficult time and to raise the profile of poetry in the school in such an exciting way.”

Mrs Paulson worked with Alistair Brown of Studio AB, an old school friend based in Cornwall, to design, collate and print the anthology.

He said: “It was a pleasure to work on the Lockdown Anthology. A successful book design really comes down to the quality of the content. The poems and illustrations submitted by the students were of such a high standard and it’s this that has made it such a big success.

“Now that their thoughts on the pandemic have been collated and documented in a book format, it will forever be a valuable and heartfelt piece of history.”

Over the course of the project, an art competition to design the front cover of the Lockdown Anthology was won by Emily Hayes, Year 9, and a song titled ‘Together Hand in Hand’ was created using lines from a selection of the poems.

An initial quantity of 150 copies of the ‘Lockdown Anthology’ has been printed which are available to purchase at £5 each.

Copies can be bought via the School Gateway system for anyone with children at Flint High School.

To purchase a copy, if you do not have a child at the school, call 01352 732268 or email fhmail@flint.flintshire.sch.uk