School Workshops
Playing with Poetry – National Poetry Day 2025
Year on year, our National Poetry Day programmes prove popular and successful right across the country and we’ve developed a whole range of programmes to tie in with the 2025 theme of Play: Playing with Poetry!
Introduction
Poetry is nothing if not playful – because, rooted in the imagination, poetry is simply playing with words! And Playing with Poetry has been designed to take the sometimes intimidating sting out of poetry by letting children experience for themselves the power and ease of playing with language.
| Year Groups | EYFS-Y6 |
|---|---|
| Curriculum | Poetry |
| Duration | Multiple workshops over one day |
| Space | Large space required in primary schools. |
Workshop Testimonials
“The girls at Glendower LOVED the workshops! – they enjoyed the workshops immensely and thought the facilitator was fantastic! – they gained confidence around poetry, in addition to understanding the freedom attached to the concept of creating their own poem. We can’t wait to have you back!”
“Thomas Buxton really enjoyed celebrating National Poetry day this year. Thank you to who came in to help us write and perform our own poems about the environment. We love poetry! “
“I wanted to take a moment to express our gratitude for your incredible delivery of National Poetry Day workshops. Your passion for poetry was clear, and every single one of the teachers spoke highly of you and your sessions. Similarly, the children were buzzing with excitement- I have received messages from parents about pupils’ enjoyment as well. It was a great day, and I look forward to your next visit.”
Playing with Poetry:
Primary Schools
Playing with Poetry can accommodate the whole of up to a two-form entry school in a single day: an assembly at which a member of our team shares a favourite poem, workshops culminating in collaborative poems and, if time allows, a second assembly, too – in which classes share and celebrate their poems.
We will send you designed and illustrated versions of all the collaborative poems.
EYFS and KS1 / P1 – P3:
children are introduced to a number of wild animals from around the world and imagine what it takes to play at being some of them. They then harvest the fruits of their imaginations to create a collaborative rhyming a poem: “Playing at being a …”.
Years 3 & 4 / P4 & P5:
Pupils discover for themselves ways in which randomness can enrich poems by letting “chance” take the lead and inspire collaborative and completely unique Dada Poems!
Years 5 & 6 / P6 & P7:
People find out about Edward Lear, the “father” of nonsense poetry – and follow some of his approaches to craft collaborative limericks about people who come from – well, anywhere, really!
Playing with Poetry: Secondary Schools
Playing with Poetry can accommodate up to 30 KS3/4 / S1-S5 students at a time, in workshops lasting from a single lesson, allowing a member of our team to work with a large number of students in just one day. It’s also possible, too, to deliver longer, more in depth workshops to fewer groups.
We will send you designed and illustrated versions of all the collaborative poems.
After a quick, poetry-based game exploring “rhyme”, students are introduced top three playful poets, working together to select one.
They then learn more about their selected poet, through an immersive, drama-based activity before being guided through a process harvesting and crafting what they have found out to create a collaborative verse written in one of the most playful forms of poem, a daisy chain poem!
The poets that students choose from are …
Carol Ann Duffy – the first (and so far only) woman to hold the post of Poet Laureate …
Levi Tafari – the Liverpool-born cordon bleu chef turned storyteller and dub poet …
Ian MacMillan – the “Bard of Barnsley”, and a key player in the City of Culture 2025’s celebrations.
Workshop FAQs
What is the format of the day?
We will work with you to plan a timetable for the workshops, to suit the number of classes you would like to include – and around the specific timings of your school day. In a two-form entry primary school (with all year groups apart from Reception taking part in groups of up-to 60), the timetable might look like this:
09.00 – 09.20: (optional) Whole-school assembly, where your visitor will introduce the day…
09.20 – 10.00: Year 1 stay in the hall for their workshop …
10.00 – 10.40: Year 2 come to the hall for their workshop …
10.40 – 11.20: Year 3 come to the hall for their workshop …
11.20 – 11.50: One Reception class have a visit, in their own setting …
LUNCH
1.00 – 1.30: The other Reception class have a visit, in their own setting …
1.30 – 2.10: Year 4 come to the hall for their workshop …
2.10 – 2.50: Year 5 come to the hall for their workshop …
2.50 – 3.30: Year 6 come to the hall for their workshop.
What kind of space is required?
For groups of over 30, a large open space such as the school hall is required.
Are there any technical requirements?
Your visitor will need access to a laptop/ screen/projector set up in the school hall, so that pupils can view the supporting PowerPoint.
Related Poetry Workshops
A Celebration in Rhyme
A celebration in Rhyme has been developed to help celebrate the stories your pupils love in verse.
Personification Poetry
Students will harvest the fruits of their imaginations and explore notions of empathy to construct uniquely moving poetry.
Soundscape Poetry
Those pupils who said they don’t like poetry will be writing furiously at the end of this magical workshop.