A TALENTED trio from Commonweal School triumphed at the Swindon Youth Slam.

Valentina Opare-Darko, Holly Walen and Jimmy Campbell, who make up The Glam Girls and Jimmy, beat 11 other teams with their performance poetry at the Arts Centre on Saturday.

The slam, part of the Swindon Festival of Literature, saw teams from nine schools take to the stage in front of judges in a bid to win the trophy.

Holly, 13, who is in Year 8, said: “We are excited and surprised that we won because the other groups were really good.”

Valentina, who is also 13, said: “I was nervous at first but once we got going I really enjoyed performing our poem.”

The group focused on the differences between boys and girls for their poems in both rounds.

Jimmy said: “We are really pleased that we came first. We want to thank our teachers and the other students who helped us.”

The other schools who took part were Highworth Warneford School, Isambard Community School, Kingsdown School, Larkmead School, Lydiard Park Academy, St Joseph’s Catholic College, Swindon Academy and Royal Wootton Bassett Academy.

A team called Odyssey from Swindon Academy came second, and The Cookie Crew from Commonweal School took third place.

Before taking part, the students took part in three 90-minute workshops with slammers Sara-Jane Arbury and Marcus Moore.

Festival director Matt Holland, who was one of the judges, said: “All the groups had me either in tears or in awe. This is exactly what I want to see literature doing.

“The pupils are changing their feelings into thoughts and into words instead of keeping it inside and bottling it up.

“They are playing with words, not videos and cameras.

“This is them growing as human beings. They are getting into their teens and dealing with it through language, not bad behaviour.

“I was one of the judges and I am pleased to say by my scores the winning team were the clear winners. They got it just right in both rounds.”