'Ringing' poetry in schools this week!

Chatting to the Headteacher of Ledbury Primary School, she mentioned that their teachers aim to make their lesson 'ringing' not 'minging'! Ringing means relevant, interesting, a bit naughty and a giggle. So I relished the chance to watch poet Terry Caffrey deliver what was roundly considered a 'ringing' performance of his poetry for 300 pupils. He made them laugh, got pupils, teachers and parents involved and without anyone even noticing wove in the message that good listening is key to good writing and good learning, that words are fun and making up new words even more fun. And yes, we could all have listened to his gorgeous Liverpudlian accent all day long!

Yesterday was such a pristine summer day and I had the good fortune to be driving past some of Herefordshire's finest orchards, pink and white with blossom, up and down hills opening onto sweeping vales. I was on my way to St Peter's Primary School in Bromyard, where Julie Boden was working with pupils to create imaginative lines of poetry about rivers. With the Olympics on our minds, children compared the river to the lines of a race track or a cycle track, as well as to the roots of trees and to steam rising from a cooking pot. All these were added to a long river poem, which pupils were to perform at the end of the day, along with other poems written by other year groups.

During this week of poetry in schools Philip Wells, also known as the Fire Poet, was working with pupils in Colwall and Eastnor Primary Schools. That evening I had the pleasure of making up a bedtime poem with my 6 year old daughter (at her insistence), as she tapped out a rhythm on her chest, just as Philip had shown her, and improvised crazy lines and words around 'dolphins diving in the shimmering sea'.


Julie Boden in action at Out Loud!