Our Primary 5-7 finalists recently competed in the annual Junior School Declamations 2024 on Friday 4th October 2024.

Declamations has been a tradition at Robert Gordon’s College, inspiring children to enjoy poetry for over 30 years. Every P5-P7 pupil memorised and performed a poem in front of their class, with finalists selected by their teachers to compete in the Declamations competition. Following an introduction from Mrs MacLeod, Deputy Head of Junior School, our finalists delivered their personally selected, memorised poems to an audience of families and peers.

It was a nervous wait for our pupils as our judges Mrs Tulloch, Head of Junior School and Mrs Gray, Head of English, Senior School, deliberated. The audience enjoyed a series of outstanding musical performances by some of our talented Primary 7 pupils.

Mrs Gray, Head of English, Senior School, shared: “I was incredibly impressed by the selection of poetry recited and by the exceptionally high standard of the performances. It was clear that each of the finalists had a strong understanding of their poems and had thought very carefully about how they should be recited to engage their audience. Selecting the winners was a hard task, but I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and was so impressed by the pupils’ tremendous hard work.

Mrs Tulloch, Head of Junior School, shared: “We were blown away by the effort and enthusiasm that went into delivering performances of a variety of poems. It was incredibly hard to choose a winner from so many engaging and entertaining recitations. A tremendous afternoon, we are so proud of each and everyone of our finalists .”

Congratulations to our winners below:

Primary 5:
Brodie B

Primary 6:
Aarav S

Primary 7:
Om P

Overall Declamations Final Winner:
Annabel A

Throughout the competition, our pupils have experienced a wide variety of poems - some humorous, others emotional, challenging, or thought-provoking - all contributing to their growing appreciation of poetry.