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Posted on May 16th 2024
Student Council Organises Neurodiversity Poetry Competition
For most of the school year, the Student Council has been working on a group project with students from James Allen's Girls' School to organise a writing competition focused on neurodiversity, which is the understanding of the different ways people's brains develop and work.
Our project, a Neurodiversity Writing Competition, was one of many projects created by students in Southwark Schools Learning Partnership (SSLP) schools, which were all focused on neurodiversity.
On Wednesday, May 12th, we visited St. Saviour's Church in Herne Hill to attend the final event of our project. We met with students from other schools before presenting a summary of everything we have achieved during the project in front of a large audience of students, teachers, and visitors.
See all the entries
Our project was successful, attracting 25 entries from students in many different schools, including an excellent entry by Zain in Year 10 (see below), which impressed our judges enough to be shortlisted. Our best entries, including Zain's, are collected in a booklet, which you can view at https://neurodiverse-writing.com/. The winners, who will each receive a £50 gift card of their choice, will be announced soon on our website.
After we had presented, we watched the impressive presentations by the other groups, who organised an art competition, created a programme to help students moving from primary to secondary school, and sold bags and postcards to raise money for charity.
Afterwards, we were rewarded for our hard work with a celebration of our achievements, which included a pizza party and a silent disco. We all enjoyed this, and it was a great way to end the project, which took a lot of hard work and dedication from everyone involved.
Organising the writing competition was a great opportunity for us to develop various skills, as we designed a website and poster to promote the competition and presented slideshows to large crowds, which improved our public speaking skills.
Neurodiversity Waltz
By Zain, Year 10. One of the entries to the Neurodiversity Writing Competition, organised by our Student Council.
In the garden of minds, a dance unfolds.
Where neurons pirouette, stories untold.
Autumn leaves whisper secrets to the breeze.
As synapses tango with electric ease.
Dyslexic daisies sway in rhythm's embrace.
Their petals spelling chaos, defying space.
ADHD fireflies flit and dart, a wild ballet.
Chasing moonbeams, forgetting yesterday.
Autistic constellations map celestial trails.
Connecting dots in patterns that never fail.
Anxiety's delicate spiderwebs shimmer at dawn,
catching worries, weaving resilience drawn.
Depression's brooding cypress trees stand tall.
Roots anchored in shadows, yet reaching for all.
Bipolar sunflowers turn faces to extremes,
chasing highs and lows in kaleidoscope dreams.
And schizophrenic stardust, oh how it gleams,
Painting galaxies of voices, fragmented streams.
Each mind a universe, unique and profound.
A symphony of quirks, harmonizing sound.
So let us celebrate the neurodiverse ball,
where every step, every glitch, every fall,
adds colour to our shared cosmic tapestry.
A dance of beautiful minds. Forever free.
By Zain, Year 10
