On Wednesday 5th May, The English Department were delighted to welcome back to the school nationally renowned poet and playwright Inua Ellams. Inua’s third visit to the school saw him involved in delivering a programme of poetry workshops to all Year 8 pupils. The workshops formed part of the ‘Poetry from Different Cultures’ unit of work which asks pupils to address their own and others’ cultural identity through poetry.

During the workshops, pupils worked enthusiastically in small groups to create their own version of the Sean Thomas Dougherty poem ‘The Puerto Rican Girls of French Hill’ which explores the identity of a group of people. Ideas were as diverse as ‘The Teachers of Cromer High’ to ‘The Jamaican Bob Sleigh Team of the Winter Olympics.’

Each group produced a poem and many were shared at the end of each session. The poems have now been sent to Inua who will identify his favourites to be included in an anthology of poetry which will be available next half term.

Year 7 pupils compete in Semi-final of 2010 Times Spelling Bee – the UK’s only national Spelling Competition for schools.

More than 1000 schools from across the UK have entered a team for the 2010 Times Spelling Bee and having won their local heat in March, Issy Cox, Jake Lomax, Phoebe Gee and Charlotte Fox travelled to Cambridge to battle it out against 10 other heat winners in the regional Semi-final.

The team showed their mastery by successfully spelling words such as facilitate and crustacean. Phoebe Gee made it through to round seven (the first time this had been achieved in a Semi-final) where she was defeated by the word infinitesimal!

The team were second at the end of the first round, but were beaten into sixth place by some speedy spelling in the quick fire round including an extraordinary performance by King Edward VI Grammar School, Bedford who spelled 18 words correctly in the allocated two minutes to become the overall winners.

The team was accompanied by a group of supporters including teachers, parents and friends. Teacher and team coach Mrs Ward said: “I think they did a fantastic job. They started as the underdogs but really proved what they could do.”
Issy Cox said: “We enjoyed the experience and we are very pleased we got this far.”
The Grand Final will take place in London on 24th June.

On Sunday 23rd May two catering students from Cromer High School took part in the Cromer and Sheringham Crab and Lobster Festival’s food festival.

Chelsea Dyke and Zoe Moore assisted Chris Coubrough from ITVs ‘Coastal Kitchen’ in the festival’s professional cookery theatre, gaining experience of working alongside a local celebrity chef.