Sheringham High students reach poetry final

A group of young performance poets from Sheringham High School have rapped their way to the finals of a national competition, winning a chance to appear in front of an audience of 900 at London's South Bank.

The eight-strong team beat off competition from young people from Cambridge, Norwich, Peterborough and Lincolnshire to represent East Anglia at the three-day Shake the Dust Poetry Slam at the Festival Hall.

Part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the event, which runs next weekend , is the culmination of project bringing together the UK's top spoken word artists and young performance poets from all over England at nine arts venues.

Featuring workshops and guest appearances, the Shake the Dust weekend will include a performance by award-winning British hip hop artist Speech Debelle.

The Sheringham team, made up of Nilsu Denzilli, Amelia Ghanbouri, Kayleigh Mone, Will Moy, Tali Paine, George Robson, Jerry Sheppard More and Daniel Sadler, was coached by Norwich-based performance poets Molly Naylor and Andy Bennet.

Sheringham High School head of expressive arts Kathryn Flynn put the group's success down to their skill with words, coupled with a talent for writing from their own experiences as young people in a modern world.

'We are very proud of these young people and their achievement, and we are also grateful to Sheringham Little Theatre and The Garage in Norwich for providing their support and rehearsal space,' she said.