In 2023, in partnership with Macmillan Children’s Books, CLPE ran a survey to learn more about the current place of poetry in primary schools. We found out that there is still much to do to raise the profile of poetry, and those writing poetry for children, with schools and teachers.
This was followed by bespoke professional training for 30 of the schools who had completed the survey, to specifically address some of the issues which had been brought to light by the survey responses and to demonstrate the value of poetry in the primary curriculum and for children’s own enjoyment. This was developed and led in partnership with two leading children’s poets, Valerie Bloom and Matt Goodfellow. The 30 schools involved also received a free poetry library from Macmillan to support them to create a physical and joyful space for poetry for their pupils.
On each day, we introduced poets, poems, teaching approaches and ideas that the teachers could easily take back and replicate in their own classrooms, and gave them texts and resources to facilitate them in using and applying what they had learned on the course days.
One of the most instantaneous and effective ideas was simply exposing children to poetry regularly. At each course day, we introduced the teachers to a wide range of poetry using an approach called poetry papering. This involves pinning up copies of a range of poems by different poets around the learning space. This exposed teachers to poems and poets they had not met before and gave choice and voice in selecting poems which meant something to them. Discussing poems which related to personal experiences and emotions allowed a greater depth of response, understanding and empathy.
After the first course day, each teacher was given a copy of Macmillan’s Big Amazing Poetry Book and were introduced to CLPE’s bank of poetry videos – performances of poems by the poets themselves to introduce a wide range and breadth of poets and poetry to their children. This had immediate impact on children’s engagement and enthusiasm for the work of particular poets.
Another teacher encouraged their children to track their poetry journey over the course of the entire project, recording their developing thoughts and feelings about poetry and sharing poets and poems that they were introduced to and whose work they particularly enjoyed:
Thanks to the books that were so generously provided by Macmillan as part of the project and those that were provided by CLPE to follow up on the sessions with Valerie Bloom and Matt Goodfellow, as well as the range of videos on CLPE’s website, all the teachers felt better able to provide their children with a range and breath of poetry, to use in their teaching and for children’s independent reading. The impact of this was evident in every school involved. When children were exposed to poetry, and when they could access poetry for their independent reading, it increased their engagement with poetry and the time spent reading poetry independently.
“What’s really struck me is the importance of poetry being part of everyday reading. Children need exposure to poetry for pleasure and not to study the joy out of it.”
Louise Brawn, Kingsthorpe Grove Primary School
In the training day led by Valerie Bloom, she focussed on responding to poetry through performance. This was followed by the schools involved shadowing CLPE’s Poetry Award, the CLiPPA. For three weeks, the schools incorporated a focussed poetry teaching unit on poetry into their taught curriculum, drawing on the teaching plans and video resources provided by CLPE for the five collections shortlisted for the 2023 Award: Blow a Kiss, Catch a Kiss by Joseph Coelho, Marshmallow Clouds by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, Let’s Chase Stars Together by Matt Goodfellow, Choose Love by Nicola Davies and these are the words by Nikita Gill.
As part of the scheme the children learned poems from one of these collections and recorded performances of these to submit to the judging panel. The performance aspect particularly engaged children:
“I’ve enjoyed poetry more since I started practising for the poetry competition with Ethan. I’ve learned to remember a poem off by heart, project my voice and look at actions that add to my performance. I liked that the poem we chose rhymed and how it was kind of like a song.” Year 6 child
Another important part of the training was exploring effective approaches to writing poetry with children. Valerie Bloom introduced teachers to a range of different forms, based on those explored in her CLiPPA 2022 award-winning collection Stars With Flaming Tails, which children could easily explore for themselves. Matt Goodfellow’s day looked at how to encourage children to write in their own voices, about their own lives. This proved particularly impactful for both the teachers and the children.
“I’ve learnt how important it is to be able to express ourselves, our lives and experiences through the freedom of writing. I found it cathartic to put into writing my experiences and feelings on the course days. The children who trialled the CLPE planning also found it satisfying to write about what they wanted to.” Shobana Kohli, Brockhurst Primary School
The teachers involved all remarked on how much the course had added to their subject knowledge and had changed their perception of how poetry could (and should) be taught. What was most pleasing was the impact of the approaches on children who had previously been seen as not engaging in Literacy sessions, who had previously been seen as needing additional support and disadvantaged pupils. Teachers also felt empowered to go back to their own schools to deliver CPD to their own staff teams based on the subject knowledge and activities they had gained as part of the programme, developing sustainability in the system moving forwards.
We have combined learning from the initial survey and from the teachers and schools involved in the research project in a new edition of our Poetry: What We Know Works Booklet, to share the learning more widely. We hope you will find it useful and that it helps to support the development of poetry in schools. We’ll also be continuing to provide poetry CPD for schools on our poetry course in partnership with published poet Kate Wakeling.
Charlotte Hacking
Charlotte Hacking is the Learning and Programme Director at the Centre for Literacy in Primary (CLPE) Education and a judge on the CLPE Poetry Award, the CLiPPA.
Children's Poetry Summit 
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