{"id":28248,"date":"2026-01-13T15:16:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T15:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/?p=28248"},"modified":"2026-01-13T15:18:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T15:18:29","slug":"pennthorpe-pupil-earns-national-recognition-for-creative-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/pennthorpe-pupil-earns-national-recognition-for-creative-translation\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennthorpe Pupil Earns National Recognition for Creative Translation"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Year 7 pupil Freya receives special commendation in the Stephen Spender Schools Laureate Prize, showcasing the power of language and imagination.

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Pennthorpe<\/a> is thrilled to announce that Freya, a Year 6 pupil at the time of entry, has been awarded a special commendation in the Stephen Spender Schools Laureate Prize, a prestigious competition that celebrates linguistic creativity among young people across the UK, Ireland, and British Schools Overseas.<\/p>

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The competition challenges pupils to select a poem in any language, translate it into English, and provide a commentary explaining their choices, a task that demands linguistic skill, cultural sensitivity, and creative thinking.<\/p>

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Freya chose the French poem \u201cLe Voyage\u201d<\/em> (The Journey<\/em>), inspired by her own experiences:<\/p>

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\u201cI chose this poem because I grew up overseas and I often travel with my family, and this poem reminded me about all my travels.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

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Determined to preserve the poem\u2019s rhythm and rhyme, Freya made imaginative adjustments:<\/p>

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\u201cI added \u2018with my didgeridoo\u2019 so it would rhyme with Timbuktu\u2026 I used the word didgeridoo because it relates back to the trip to Australia.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

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She also tackled idiomatic challenges with insight:<\/p>

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\u201cI struggled translating the phrase \u2018je prends mes jambes \u00e0 mon cou\u2019 because word by word it meant \u2018I take my legs to my neck,\u2019 which didn\u2019t make sense. I realised it meant \u2018I am running away.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>

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Competitions like the Stephen Spender Prize are more than literary exercises, they nurture empathy, cultural awareness, and cognitive flexibility. They encourage pupils to think deeply, adapt creatively, and appreciate global perspectives, skills that will serve them for life.<\/p>

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Pennthorpe is immensely proud of Freya\u2019s achievement, which reflects her talent and determination, and the school\u2019s commitment to fostering a love of languages and literature.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Year 7 pupil Freya receives special commendation in the Stephen Spender Schools Laureate Prize, showcasing the power of language and imagination. Pennthorpe is thrilled to announce that Freya, a Year 6 pupil at the time of entry, has been awarded a special commendation in the Stephen Spender Schools Laureate Prize, a prestigious competition that celebrates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":28249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[929],"tags":[],"directory-category":[],"event_categories":[],"class_list":["post-28248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-14 01:05:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28248"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28253,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28248\/revisions\/28253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28248"},{"taxonomy":"directory-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/directory-category?post=28248"},{"taxonomy":"event_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/west-sussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_categories?post=28248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}