A TREASURY of tales told by Oxford pupils have been made into an emotive poetry book, with support from some of the UK's biggest literary names.

From heart-wrenching tales of war-torn homelands to a colourful account of Cowley Road, new book England Poems From a School sheds light on the lives of young migrants who now call the city home.

The poems were all written by Oxford Spires Academy pupils, who impressed their acclaimed poetry teacher so much that she created an anthology and had it published.

It was released on Thursday and was edited by the secondary school’s writer in residence Kate Clanchy, who was awarded an MBE for services to literature last week.

Poems have been praised by critics and endorsed by celebrity authors including Oxford’s own Philip Pullman, who described the book as ‘great by any standard’.

JK Rowling retweeted one 15-year-old student’s poem, about him waiting for his estranged father to return.

In a blog post for Pan Macmillan, the parent group of the book’s publisher Picador, Ms Clanchy wrote: “Poems From a School brings together our very best poems to create a rich portrait of England as it is experienced by its youngest migrants.

“The result is very likely to make you cry - but not just because of the sadness of some of the stories. There is an openness here, a warmth, a reality which speaks directly to the human heart.”

Oxford Spires in Glanville Road, East Oxford, claims to be the UK’s most successful school for poetry,

Among its 1,000 students 30 different languages are spoken, and pupils consistently win poetry contests.

Syrian-born student Mohamed Assaf, 13, wrote one of the book’s poems last year.

An extract translated from Arabic reads: “Our dreams are there but my destiny is not to be with Damascus who gave me my soul.

“Damascus where the sun rises in my room and the birds sing at my window.

“Damascus, my mother.”

Student Freya Carter saw her poem ‘Icarus’ liked and retweeted by tens of thousands of people on Twitter.

The 14-year-old, who lives in East Oxford, said: “I feel honoured to receive so much praise for my poetry. I was told somebody chose to have my poem read at their wedding – it’s so strange.”

Poet Michael Rosen has also retweeted pupils’ poems, shared by Ms Clanchy.

Their English teacher Siobhan Hartigan said: “It’s helped them to believe they are good. I have been saying it for years, but now they have been recognised by famous writers they are starting to believe it.”