This article is in the Useful Organisations Category
The countdown to National Poetry Day
This year’s National Poetry Day takes place on 3 October 2024 and the theme is counting. There are all sorts of ways to get involved in the celebrations, but poetry is for life not just for National Poetry Day. Use this article to discover how to embrace poetry all year round.
National Poetry Day
To make the most of the 3 October celebrations, visit the National Poetry Day website for a list of everything happening on the day, including events near you; download the free resources and explore the NPD poetry book recommendations, which include two lists for young people. Plus, find out all about poet Laura Mucha’s attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the largest poetry lesson (multi venue)! If you’re in a school, you’re invited to join in for free. The number of young people needed to take part to break the record is 60,000 and the last time we checked, 90,000 were registered so it looks like the record will be smashed! Find out more and register to take part here.
The Poetry Society
The Poetry Society champions poetry for all ages, all year round. Working with leading poets, its innovative education programmes include a Poets in Schools service for all key stages, free downloadable PoetryClass resources, the Cloud Chamber teacher-poet network, and young writer development schemes the Foyle Young Poets Award and Young Poets Network.
Schools can celebrate National Poetry Day or any day of the year by inviting a poet into the school. Find the perfect poet for your students through the Poets in Schools service: make an enquiry today.
To celebrate National Poetry Day, The Poetry Society will present an array of materials, new poems and activities on this year’s theme.
- announcements of the Stanza Poetry Competition 2024 winning poems on the theme of ‘Counting’ judged by Rachel Long
- the release of a National Poetry Competition writing resource by Jonathan Edwards
- teachers are invited to join the Cloud Chamber network of poetry educators for an online CPD session on Thursday 26 September, introducing new resources for the classroom on the counting theme
- Join The Poetry Society for ‘Count Me In’ at The Poetry Café: an open mic on the National Poetry Day theme of counting! Come and see City Bridge Poet in Residence Cecilia Knapp perform a headline set, and get the chance to read your work at London’s most iconic poetry venue: find out more here
- A poetry workshop with accomplished New-York-based poet, editor and translator, Lola Koundakjian at the Armenian Institute – find out more here
The Poetry Archive
The Poetry Archive is a not-for-profit organisation that produces, acquires and preserves recordings of poets reading their own work out loud. They make substantial excerpts from their recording sessions feely available online through their website and their dedicated Children’s Poetry Archive. www.poetryarchive.org
Clippa 2024 taken on the 12th July 2024 at the National Theatre
As the National Poetry Centre for Primary Schools, CLPE (The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education) runs the annual CLiPPA (Children’s Poetry Award). The CLiPPA shortlist regularly highlights the very best new poetry for young children while the CLiPPA shadowing scheme, which runs from May to June every year, is a fantastic way for children to join in the celebrations with free teaching resources suitable for students from EYFS all the way to Year 7 and 8.
‘The CLiPPA school shadowing scheme aims to directly engage children with the award and the poetry that has been created for them,’ explains Charlotte Hacking, CLPE Director, Learning and Programmes. ‘To support schools, CLPE provide planning and video resources, based on what we know works in effectively teaching and engaging children with poetry from the action-based research we regularly undertake alongside schools.
‘Activities encourage children to listen to the shortlisted poets perform poetry and engage in reading and discussing poetry, before performing poetry for themselves. Schools can submit videos of the best performances for the chance to win the ultimate prize – the opportunity to perform on stage at the National Theatre in London at the award ceremony alongside the poets themselves.’
A report on CLPE’s new research project into the effective teaching of poetry and its benefits, Another Year of Poetry, led by Michael Rosen and Charlotte Hacking, will be published later this year.
Poetry By Heart is the national poetry speaking competition for schools and colleges in England. The competition invites young people to choose a poem, learn it by heart and perform it aloud. It’s open to primary schools, secondary schools and sixth form colleges and 2024 saw the biggest ever response: almost 4,500 video entries of poetry performances; 110,000 young people involved; a staggering 48,000 poems learned by heart. The celebrations culminate in an exuberant Grand Finale at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, young finalists coming from every corner of the country to perform for the panel of poet judges and live on the Globe’s main stage in front of a packed house of supporters, VIPs and poetry fans.
This year’s competition will launch on National Poetry Day, 3rd October, with a special event in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre featuring poet Imtiaz Dharker, a poem learn-a-long led by Poetry By Heart co-director Julie Blake, and live poetry performances by young people. Registration for the competition is open now, and it comes highly recommended by teachers, parents and young people themselves. ‘Poetry By Heart has massively increased our awareness and enjoyment of poetry’ says one teacher, ‘It brings poetry ‘alive’, off the page and into people’s hearts’. ‘I gained confidence and found I love POETRY!!!’ commented one young person; you can’t say fairer than that. Registration is free and open now, and brings access to the thoroughly excellent Poetry By Heart resources.
Inspired by the cultural activism of Stephen Spender, the Stephen Spender Trust celebrates multilingualism and literary translation through a range of initiatives, including a Poetry in Translation Prize. This has categories for pupils, teachers and individual young people in the UK and Ireland. The 2024 winners will be announced at a special celebration event in November 2024. The 2025 prize will open next May. In the meantime, find a wealth of poetry translation resources, including a multilingual bank of suggested poems in dozens of languages, on the Stephen Spender Trust website.
The Children’s Poetry Summit is a UK network of individuals and organisations actively interested in poetry for children. It provides a regular forum for discussion, information exchange, sharing of ideas and good practice, and a pressure group which campaigns for children’s poetry. Members are children’s poets, publishers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, organisations and individuals interested in children’s poetry and its principle aims are to exchange information and ideas, keep up to date with what is currently happening and generally to raise the profile of children’s poetry. A regular blog features contributions from poets, publishers, educators, and others from the poetry community. These are always of interest and signing up is a great way to keep up with what is happening in the world of children’s poetry.
Tyger Tyger Magazine
Tyger Tyger Magazine is an online journal of new poems for children. Once a term, it publishes twelve ‘roaring, leaping, bright-burning poems’ on a shared theme, by contemporary writers from all over the world. Each issue comes with free poetry teaching resources for use in the primary school classroom and at home, and each poem is also available as a free, downloadable, printable poster. Sign up to receive the magazine.
Brian Moses
For regular helpings of new poetry, from poets and from children themselves, as well as comment pieces and articles from children’s poets, and tips to get children writing, follow the indefatigable Brian Moses and visit his blog. You’ll find it here.
