WHO BRUISED OUR WORLD?

As our children come under scrutiny for poor writing skills, we look at how inspiring teaching can actually foster extraordinary creativity. Martilla Morrison, Head of English at The English School in Kuwait, asked her pupils their thoughts on the state of today's world. Here are some of their responses:

So many problems around us
So much pain and loss
The world is falling apart
Yet no-one seems to care.
Innocent people are losing their lives

In never ending, unnecessary wars
Children being trained as killing machines
Yet no-one seems to care.

Life threatening diseases persist
Murder rates rise
Pandora’s box has been opened again
Yet no-one seems to care.

So many problems, few solutions
So much pain, so much loss
The world around us is falling apart
We must all care.

Reem Khattab (aged 12)


Stop damaging the world
I implore you to stop
World industries please take note
And make a new start.

The factories today
Produce what we need
But throw gases into the sky
Where they gather and stay
Creating a blanket Keeping everything warm.

Clearing the evergreen forests
To build for the future
Adds to the gases before our eyes.
Better to save trees and creatures
That balance the cycle

Ice that melts cannot be replaced
Land that floods is gone forever
The rivers we pollute
Are arrows of poison.

So let’s make a fresh start
And create a better world.

Imogen Reid (aged 12)


Imagine an apple.
That apple is the planet.
What does it look like?
Is it ripe, rosy?
Beaming with good health?
Or is it bad? Rotten, Bruised.
Who did it? Who bruised your apple?
Who bruised our world?
Anyone. Everyone.
Each person mutilates and maims our world.
Our future.
Can we amend?
Or will we toss it away?
After all, it’s only an apple.

Meredith Thorpe (aged 11)

Drawings by: Sophie Hudson, Charlotte Price, Ana Huidobro, Eliza Leng and Ophelia Winyard from Leaden Hall School, Salisbury