A year 12 student from the South Hams is through to the county heat of the Poetry by Heart competition after judges praised his accomplished performance.

Archie Duke performed ‘A Satirical Elegy on the Death of the Late Famous General’ by Jonathan Swift and ‘Border’ by Gillian Clarke at Ivybridge Community College. It was part of a national competition that encourages students to discover the pleasures of poetry.

Students choose their own poems to recite and then learn them by heart. The idea behind this is to deepen their connection with the poems chosen and to bring them to life in front of a live audience. Winning performers can achieve local and national recognition.

Archie earned praise from the judges for the quality of his performance. The judging panel was made up of Emily Fairclough, director of English at the college; Fiona Samuels, teacher of Media Studies and Kim Thorne, acting head of Year 12. They were impressed by Archie’s understanding of the poems, polished performance and accuracy, along with the level of challenge and difficulty of the poems he chose.

Sarah Lannin achieved second place and Imy Chapman was runner up. All three students are in year 12.

The evening began with students from Key Stages 4 and 5 reading selected Pre-1914 poems. This was followed by readings of Shakespearian sonnets by teaching staff from the English and Drama Departments. The students then read their second reading of Post-1914 poems from the Poetry by Heart anthology.

Judges considered many different factors before reaching their decision. The audience was entertained while the results were being finalised, with a musical performance from ‘Blank’, one of the college’s bands.

The event was attended by Rachel Hutchinson, principal; Malcolm Collins, deputy principal; members of the English and Drama departments, parents and students.

The college thanked Stephen Ellis, teacher of Drama, who co-ordinated the event, coached students and gave a reading. Simon Whitehorn, performing arts resources manager filmed the event and supported the student band. A spokesman for the college said: “We are also very grateful to year 10 students Ryan Bailey and Josh Trezise, for providing camera work and lighting, year 8 students Ben Crouch and Tristen O’Reilly and year 9 student Holly Wade, for their support in setting up the room.”