Year 6 pupils aged 10 – 11 were tasked with creating a stop-motion animated short video inspired by Henri Rousseau’s 1891 painting “Surprised!”, which depicts a tiger lurking in the jungle undergrowth and currently hangs in the National Gallery in London.

Pupils used their creativity to develop a work of art that imagined the scene before or after the painting’s setting. Scenes ranged from dramatic action sequences of a tiger fighting hunters in the jungle, to a playful interpretation depicting a tiger rolling through the undergrowth playing with the sun, moon and stars as if they were balls of yarn.

Amira Mitchell-Karam, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths (STEAM) Lead at Dame Bradbury’s Junior School said: “It is incredible to see the creativity and the different interpretations that our pupils have come up with from viewing just one picture. Stop-motion animation is a notoriously difficult art form to master, and we are very proud of the videos that our pupils have produced and the hard work that they put into making them. To have their work selected to be exhibited in the National Gallery is a massive achievement and the pupils are wonderful representatives of themselves and the school.”

Take One Picture is a national programme for primary schools, which encourages students to develop an artistic response to a chosen painting, aiming to inspire a lifelong love of art and learning. A selection of clips from the project will be exhibited via a digital display at the National Gallery’s exhibition from 1 August – 1 September 2024.

Dame Bradbury’s pupil Florence B., comments of her short film, ‘Day and Night’: “The Tiger shadow leapt into my mind as soon as I saw the sheets of paper on the classroom table. I wanted to tell a story about the Tiger’s shadow playing with the Sun, Moon and Stars. My Tiger is strong, playful and inquisitive. He is constantly challenging himself and doesn’t take no for an answer.”

Dame Bradbury’s offers academic excellence alongside a comprehensive range of enriched learning opportunities, spanning art and design, performing arts, extracurricular trips, and sports.

Paul Slater, who goes by the name Fabric Lenny, creates a wide range of pieces ranging from sculpture and digital work to public art projects and collaborative schemes with young children.

Fabric Lenny visited the school and shared some of his work with Year 3 pupils, who expressed they were ‘impressed’ and ‘inspired’.

Over a five week period, he taught the pupils how to use various skills within their artwork, from continuous line drawings to digital art.

By the end of the five weeks, the year group, split into two groups, had created a final piece which was a combination of all the work they had created.

The project formed part of the year group’s PSHE learning, as they completed a booklet alongside the project entitled ‘Staying Safe’ as part of the Arts Award Discover certificate by the Tameside Council Cultural Services and Tameside Council Community Safety Department.

The Arts Award project supports individual creative development by working with young people of all interests, ages and abilities.

Thomas Keegan, Year 3 teacher at Manor Green Primary Academy, said: “The experience provided by Fabric Lenny was an invaluable experience for all pupils.

“They all loved his weekly sessions, and he really encouraged an overall love of art; everybody at Manor Green is extremely proud of their learning.”

The Royal Ballet take over Doncaster on 23 and 24 September with two spectacular Gala performances at CAST as well as a unique, free-to-watch, mass dance performance with 300 local school children on 24 September.

Led by Director of The Royal Ballet, Kevin O’Hare, and featuring stars of The Royal Ballet, these special Gala performances offer a dazzling showcase of some of the most exciting performers in dance today from across the Royal Ballet Company. This is a fantastic opportunity to sample the extraordinary range of the Company’s acclaimed classical and modern ballet repertory. Cherished ballet classics will be included alongside works by Royal Ballet founding choreographer Frederick Ashton, though to contemporary work by Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor. Emerging choreographic talent from within the Company will also feature in the newly created programme.

Iconic classics include duets from Swan Lake performed by Doncaster born Royal Ballet dancer Charlotte Tonkinson, alongside La fille mal gardée, Le Parc and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Emerging choreographic talent will also be celebrated with new works by Royal Ballet dancers Kristen McNally and Joshua Junker who has set his latest work to the music of Elvis Presley.

The Royal Ballet’s visit to Doncaster will also include a special free-to-watch, mass performance by 300 local school children in Sir Nigel Gresley Square outside the theatre on 24 September at 1.15pm. Children will perform a dance routine, Alice’s Adventures in Doncaster inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland led by five dancers of The Royal Ballet including Doncaster local Charlotte Tonkinson in the role of Alice. Doncaster College Fashion student Page Waite’s winning design for a new hat for The Mad Hatter has been made by the Royal Opera House Costume department and will have a starring role in the schools’ performance.

The programme is part of the Royal Opera House’s ongoing, ambitious partnership with Cast and Doncaster Council, which was set up to improve access to arts provision and advocate for the role that the arts play in improving the lives of young people. The partnership commenced in September 2019 and, following a year of postponements due to COVID-19, was recently extended into 2023. Its aim is to reach as many schools as possible across the borough by July 2023, inspiring creativity of the children of Doncaster and develop young talent through dance, music and theatre craft.

Deborah Rees, Director of Cast, said: ‘This partnership marks a shared ambition for culture in Doncaster. Positive outcomes for local young people remain our greatest challenge as a town and our most exciting opportunity to inspire a generation. To be able to share this once-in-a-lifetime performance with the people of Doncaster, particularly those young people who have been taking part, will be a very special moment for Cast.’

Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, said: ‘We are delighted to be taking our hugely successful partnership with Doncaster to the next level this year. After the trials of the pandemic, it feels great to plan for in-person performances in Doncaster once again, and the Company is excited to bring the best of The Royal Ballet to Cast.’

Jillian Barker, Director of Learning and Participation at the Royal Opera House, said: ‘It’s wonderful to see our partnership with Doncaster go from strength to strength and witness the transformative power of dance and ballet in action. I’m proud that we are on track to reach most schools in Doncaster before next Summer, and in particular to see so many enthusiastic children and young people thrive and enjoy all that the performing arts have to offer.’

Ros Jones, Mayor of Doncaster, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome The Royal Ballet to Doncaster and this will be a wonderful opportunity for our residents, and particularly our young people, to have the chance to see this world-famous ballet company right here on our doorstep. We, along with our partners, are determined to raise our cultural offer across the borough and we are setting the bar high with these very special events.’

This programme is supported by Doncaster Creates.

Park Lane Primary School and Nursery in Nuneaton and Race Leys Junior School, and Nicholas Chamberlaine School in Bedworth are taking part in the festival, amongst other schools in the Trust.

The arts festival programme encourages children to develop and express their creativity. Pupils will participate in projects, workshops, and collaborations during the next two weeks, including song, dance, acting, poetry, painting, and monologues.

All 12 schools within the Griffin Schools Trust will participate in the festival and will be celebrating the theme of ‘change makers’, people who take creative action to improve a situation, highlighting those motivated to act and think beyond their own experiences for the greater good.

The likes of Amanda Gorman, The Beatles, and Courtney Matheson are to be celebrated for artistic impact on the world, with new additions, including Marcus Rashford and Greta Thunberg, for their use of communication and speech to make change happen.

Anne Powell, Chief Executive of Griffin Schools Trust, comments: “The festival is a proud tradition of the Griffin Schools Trust, which aims to create high achievement for all its children. The next two weeks will both celebrate their achievements and widen their horizons through art and discovering change makers to look up to.”

As part of the festival, Year 5 pupils entered a competition responding to the theme of change makers. Ten winners from each school have been selected to attend four days of arts-soaked activity, including a Macbeth performance by Oddsocks and a Night of the Proms performance by Ratby Band.

Kim Waldock, Director of Arts for Griffin Arts Festival, and former Head of National Programmes at the Royal Opera House, adds: “It’s important to help children consider the arts beyond simply the skill of painting or singing and to consider the wider impact the arts have on vocation. Through the Griffin Arts Festival, we can stimulate broader thinking and get children excited about what is possible through the arts.”

At the end of the festival, parents will be invited to Griffin Schools Trust schools to view the work their children have been working on in a showcase ceremony.

Speak Up is the NT’s new national programme which sees young people, who have been most affected by the pandemic, working in collaboration with local artists and teachers to co-create artistic responses to issues that are most important to them. Responding to the current challenges in schools, the programme aims to develop young people’s self-expression, wellbeing and personal skills, with an open-ended offer to make creative projects in their local area.

The NT is collaborating with LUNG as Creative Associates to deliver the training of artists and teachers and to develop the creative ambitions of Speak Up. LUNG is a campaign-led verbatim theatre company which works closely with communities nationally to shine a light on political, social and economic issues in modern Britain to ensure hidden voices are heard.

Speak Up is taking place in selected schools across Doncaster, Greater Manchester (Salford, Wigan, Rochdale), Havering, Sunderland, Wakefield and Wolverhampton, with the project extending into additional areas in 2023. The NT’s current Theatre Nation Partnership organisations are Cast in Doncaster, The Lowry in Salford, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, Sunderland Empire and Sunderland Culture, Theatre Royal Wakefield and Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.

As part of the pilot with secondary schools across Wakefield, Sunderland and Greater Manchester, students have taken part in a variety of creative sessions to empower them to tell their own stories and connect with each other and their local communities. Sessions have included creating a mural around the theme of equality and exploring storytelling methods through a variety of artforms such as film making, animation and stand-up comedy. Artists, partner organisations and young people have used the sessions to work collaboratively to design what Speak Up is going to look like for them in their schools for the next three years.

Speak Up is generously supported by the Mohn Westlake Foundation which shares the NT’s belief in the power of youth voice and working with young people to enable positive change in their lives, schools and local communities. Through a £3.3million grant to deliver the programme nationally, Speak Up will reach hundreds of thousands of students, with the majority of the funding distributed to partners enabling local employment of producers and artists.

Rufus Norris, Artistic Director of the National Theatre said, “Speak Up is a crucial part of the National Theatre’s work in levelling up, giving agency to young people nationwide whose voices often go unheard and that the Covid pandemic hit even harder. This innovative model will empower young people to share their views on current issues and put them at the heart of the creative process. We are excited to build on our in-depth relationships with our Theatre Nation partners across the country to deliver this new programme, guided by the creative vision of LUNG with invaluable funding from the Mohn Westlake Foundation. Together we will support young people to become leaders of the future and make positive change in their own lives and in their communities”.

Marit Mohn and Stian Westlake, Trustees and Founders of The Mohn Westlake Foundation said, ”We understand that the pandemic has created unprecedented levels of isolation and disenfranchisement for young people. We are delighted to be extending our partnership with the National Theatre to increase access to the arts in particularly hard-hit areas of the country. By investing in young people, our leaders of the future, Speak Up will put them at the heart of the creative process, empowering them to combat these challenges, and rediscover their voice.”

Amanda Parkes, Head of School at Oxclose Academy, Sunderland said, “Speak Up has reignited a love for group creativity that Covid decimated. Through taking part in Speak Up, our students have blossomed and learned so much about themselves and opportunities the arts offer them – and, more importantly, how valuable their voice and place in this world is. Their energy and engagement are electric and pupils have stepped up to the challenge, taken risks and found their voice.”

Connor, 13, pupil at Oxclose Academy, Sunderland said, “Speak Up has given me opportunities to work with lot of different types of artists. I have really enjoyed working practically and have grown in confidence when working as part of a group”.

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/speak-up

Titled Fusion, the exhibition showcases work by Wirral Met College degree students on Fine Art, Illustration with Animation and Photography courses.

The College has been holding annual degree shows at the Williamson Art Gallery for over twenty five years. This year’s show carries on this tradition of celebrating the latest emerging talent from the region.

The exhibition of work from 17 graduating students covers diverse topics from social housing, chronic illness, mythological characters and menstruation.

Friends, family and colleagues gathered at the Williamson Art Gallery on Thursday 12 May for a private view.

Photography student Kirsty Anne Wilson, from Neston, was given a special recognition award by the College on the night. Her artwork will now join the College’s growing alumni collection across all five of its campuses.

Reacting to the news, Kirsty said: “I am totally surprised but really proud that my artwork has been recognised for what it is. There is a lot of good work here and it could have gone to anyone. I’m just really proud that a story like mine has been recognised.”

Kirsty’s thought-provoking self-portraits titled ‘Inescapable – a journey into the unknown self’, is a personal journey exploring who she is and her place in the world. Kirsty’s work depicts the experiences felt of learning to live with a chronic illness and pain in the face of ongoing adversity.

Created using a variety of photographic practices including digital and analogue, the black and white photographs explore the themes of pain, illness and loneliness, but also bravery, hope and determination to never give up.

Kirsty said: “I wanted to highlight the hidden side of chronic illness and disability. Everyone sees the wheelchair but they don’t see what goes on behind that and the truth of how hard it can be. I wanted the project to open that up.”

36 year old Kirsty started at Wirral Met on the HND Photography course, before progressing on to BA (Hons) Photography Top Up. The year degree allows students to ‘top up’ their existing skills into a full honours degree.

“My time at Wirral Met has been a huge journey. For my first two years on HND Photography I spent 90% of my time in hospital. This past year I’ve been out more than in hospital and I’ve actually been able to enjoy the course and focus on my work. I couldn’t have done it without my amazing tutors.”

Kirsty is continuing her studies with a PGCE at Wirral Met from September, with the hopes to become a photography teacher. She is also working with the Royal Photographic Society.

Principal of Wirral Met College, Sue Higginson, said: “Fusion Exhibition showcases the fantastic achievements of our graduating students and marks the start of their professional journey as artists.

“With the origins of the college starting as an Arts School, we are proud to champion creativity and provide an opportunity for students to share their work with the wider community.”

The Exhibition is open Wednesday to Saturday until Saturday 21 May, 10.30am – 4.30pm, in Galleries 1 and 13. Entry is free.

More information: https://williamsonartgallery.org/portfolio_page/wirral-met-degree-show/

Ahead of last week’s launch in Paisley of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK ( the free

Can you firstly tell us a bit more about About Us and the event itself?

It’s one of the 10 UNBOXED projects, a celebration of STEAM and of creativity across the UK. We’re bringing poetry and STEM together and showing how they complement each other. It just takes a bit of imagination (and some fantastic technical know-how) to bring these different disciplines together.

In its simplest terms it’s a light show, part of a collaboration between Stemettes, 59 Productions (who create productions like this), and The Poetry Society, who work on poetry and the promotion of poetry. It aims to engage with young people, and engage them with STEM and STEAM. The light show takes you on a 30 million year journey from The Big Bang to us here in Paisley, looking at civilization, what happens with cells and early human life and how we’ve ended up here, looking up at Paisley Abbey and how we all are connected to the universe. Technically we’re all made of star stuff, so that that’s what the whole event is about, it’s a celebration of Paisley and its place in the universe.

We’ve done a lot of work in the community and in local schools in the last couple of months, working through poetry workshops, working through STEM and coding workshops, and so what the children have created is a big part of the light show as well. We’re hearing their poetry and seeing it, we’re seeing the avatars that they’ve created in elements of their animations.

Awe was the key word that we had in mind when we were pulling this together, so that’s in essence what the show is about – awe and bright lights and a celebration of Paisley.

Can you elaborate on the STEAM acronym for those maybe unfamiliar with it?

STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts (and design), and maths – it represents a combination of all those disciplines. You can’t do STEM without art and design, without that creativity and expression. If you look at something like product design, it’s easy to see that the most impactful have that appreciation for the arts. All of them have leant into some of the skill sets that we have in the arts. Indeed, you’re much more likely to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences if you’ve engaged with the arts during your upbringing, which runs counter to the image people maybe have of scientists, that the best scientists have only ever done science and only ever do science. In fact, being able to recognise those softer artistic skill sets, combine them through collaboration and communication, that’s really where we solve problems properly.

So that’s the heart of STEAM and of course this About Us project and the whole of the UNBOXED Learning Programme.

Has asking schools to combine very different disciplines like this been a challenge?

When the proposition is explained clearly, and the benefits of this sort of cross-curricular work are articulated in a way that makes sense for schools, then we find buy-in comes pretty quickly. The resources that we’ve put together as part of this allow teachers to see for themselves how it can work in the classroom and benefit their pupils. Obviously, schools have been through a really tough time during the pandemic, and we’re now approaching exam season and all the stresses and demands that come with that, but fundamentally we’re aiming to build something here for the longer term and we really do hope, through the excitement of events like the light show, that we will inspire the younger generation to take their first steps on this great journey.

You are very passionate about this, where does your inspiration come from?

Creativity inspires me, curiosity about how things work and how the things we build create a legacy long after we’re gone. I took a VCR apart when I was younger, trying to understand how the cassette went into the machine, how the mechanism played the tape – basically breaking things down to understand how they fit together and how, once you understand that, you can solve problems with the knowledge you’ve gained.

Of course, once you talk about solving problems, then you can start working for the greater good – and that inspires me as well, the idea that things don’t always have to be harder, faster, stronger, bigger or whatever as an end in itself, rather that those attributes are really just a means to an end, and that the goal is using all of the resources at our disposal to make life better for all of us.

I’d also like to see us drawing on a much more diverse pool of talent than we do currently, and I’m inspired to realise that goal, because the more diverse the pool, the more diverse the voices we hear and the better the things we create will be.

How do you show children that STEAM is fun and not just “boring” technology?

Children like to play. If you give them the right environment to play and to create, who doesn’t want to express themselves?

Recently we were running a hack on Healthcare and getting young children to build apps. They loved it – I’m thinking of two little girls who spent the weekend building a house app because they had included talking fruit in their app and to them it was the most hilarious thing they’d ever seen. It’s one of those things where you don’t have to force them because they’ve made something, they’ve explored, they’ve played with the technology.

A couple of years ago we did a big data hack using Twitter and it was so interesting to see what interested the young people we had at the hack. One of them was obsessed with Chelsea Football Club and so that was what she dived into, analysing the Twitter feeds of Chelsea players at that point and generating infographics from them. Her little sister was obsessed with Build-a-Bear so she went around and collected some fantastic information on that. There was another girl who wanted to find  out the best member of One Direction.

Everyone has passions. Everyone sees problems that they’re very aware of, and they’re growing up with all of these, and so they’re really, really aware of what needs to be solved. They really care, and so I think it’s being able to show technology in that context, and allow people to get creative.

What age range are you targeting with the resources you mention?

Basically from 4 to 19, the gamut of primary and secondary education.

Knowing what you know about STEM in schools, do you think there’s enough collaboration between these disciplines in mainstream education, or do you think that there could be more focus on collaborating and skill sharing?

There could always be more. Collaboration is one of those things where the more you do, the more you learn, the better you get, so I think there’s definitely more that could be done. I do actually think it’s an interesting one. Teachers are between a rock and a hard place I think on this, because exams are not (for the most part) collaborative. Most SLTs have particular KPIs and metrics they look at to gauge how well their schools are doing, but I think with a bit of imagination these metrics can actually be made to work to provide a more collaborative setting in schools – for example, how can school leaders reward time that’s spent in collaboration? How can they reward this future skills work by teachers which is happening in their schools? Obviously, it does require investment, experimentation, and a little bit of thinking outside the box to give teachers agency to be able to try new things.

I think teachers do want to do this, but at the moment there’s a sense that there’s not enough positive reinforcement and support for those teachers when they do go a little bit outside the box, so we do certainly need more support and buy-in from SLTs to help build these core skills of collaboration – don’t forget, these skills are going to help close up the gaps that have been left by the pandemic and really address many of the issues around wellbeing and lost learning which we’re hearing so much about now.

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK – funded by all four governments of the UK – is the biggest, most ambitious creative programme ever presented on these shores. The programme offers a once in a lifetime opportunity for pupils aged 4-19, to become immersed in science, technology, engineering, the arts and maths (STEAM), through a range of remarkable projects across the UK and FREE online learning experiences. Explore the free resources today https://unboxed2022.uk/learning-programme

Millions of young people across the UK are set to benefit from a unique schools’ programme that puts creativity and collaboration at the heart of learning based on real-world examples.

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is launching the programme designed to inspire young people, aged 4 to 19, with its creative projects showcasing collaborations across science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).

The UNBOXED projects involve hundreds of events and activities across the UK and online, and cover a range of ideas, including space and science, the environment, growing and sustainability, and history and community. From a bio-diverse forest in a city centre to a North Sea offshore platform transformed into a giant artwork, schools can experience first-hand these creative successes when engineering and design, scientific research and technological innovation, including AR and artistic work, come together.

Designed by educators, teachers, technicians and artists with a wealth of experience in STEAM, this free learning programme from UNBOXED includes engaging and fun lesson plans, worksheets and presentations to stimulate young people’s creative thinking, encourage global citizenship and develop the skills they will need for the future of work. The resources are aligned to the curriculum across all home nations and suitable for enrichment and personal development. The programme is entirely flexible and offers a complete blend of class-based, online, real-world and location-based learning.

Resources currently available are linked to About Us, an immersive journey through 13.8 billion years of our history from the Big Bang to the present day; Our Place in Space, designed by renowned artist and writer Oliver Jeffers, which recreates the solar system as a 10-kilometre trail here on earth and Dreamachine, an artwork you ‘see’ with your eyes closed, which explores the human mind, as part of a massive research project into human perception.

Future resources will be based on StoryTrails, one of the biggest people’s history projects ever undertaken; Dandelion, a Scotland-wide growing project that reimagines the harvest festival for the 21st century; Green Space Dark Skies, which considers the environment and the UK’s beautiful landscapes; PoliNations, which is inspired by the fact that almost 80 per cent of the UK’s plant life originates from overseas; GALWAD: A story from our future, which projects the population into 2052, and SEE MONSTER, a feat of engineering and design that transforms a decommissioned off-shore North Sea platform into a space to playfully explore reflect the great British weather, reuse and sustainability.

According to a recent report from the Policy & Evidence Centre ”The promotion of creativity in educational settings can help young people build entrepreneurial skills and improve their future employability”. The UNBOXED Learning Programme recognises the importance for teachers to provide future skills-based and real-world learning to the classroom and seeks to reinvigorate creativity in every classroom in the UK. It believes creativity – our creativity – has the power to change the world.

Bhav Patel, Year 5 Teacher at West Hill Primary School, Staffordshire, said: “The resources we had from About Us were brilliant. They give children the ability to combine their creativity and science knowledge, through writing a poem based on space. It was so popular we had children asking to stay in rather than go out and play. The free resources are perfect for any teacher to just pick up and build into their lesson planning to increase engagement in the classroom and provide an exciting learning experience.”

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is the biggest and most ambitious creative programme ever presented on these shores. It is funded and supported by the four governments of the UK, and is co-commissioned with Belfast City Council, EventScotland and Creative Wales.

Explore the free resources and join the UNBOXED Learning Programme today: unboxed2022.uk/learning-programme

SPOKEN WORD POWER is a 3 year national spoken word poetry programme for school age young people. SPOKEN WORD POWER embeds spoken word poetry teaching, practice, writing and performance skills into the nation’s school life. By first providing young people with the support to create and perform their own spoken word poetry, then supporting schools to provide a platform to showcase their work, SPOKEN WORD POWER will engage a whole new generation of primary and secondary school students with the spoken word art form.

Matt Lane, Eastside Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director said: “Creative education in many schools across the nation continues to be threatened by Covid restrictions, demanding STEM targets and reduced budgets. At Eastside, we believe that training in the arts is more important than ever.

“The three year project that we are launching today, SPOKEN WORD POWER, will provide thousands of young people with exciting opportunities to use the spoken word to develop their creative thinking, unlock their imaginations, broaden their horizons and build up their confidence. The project will support young people to articulate their opinions and develop their voices, approaching key issues with a critical mind and a positive attitude.”

James Bridge, UKNC Chief Executive and Secretary-General, commented: “The UK Commission for UNESCO is delighted to work with Eastside Educational Trust and partners in supporting SPOKEN WORD POWER. The project and the young people’s poems are inspiring and help unlock creative potential. The SPOKEN WORD POWER poetry slams are a key contribution to UNESCO celebrations on World Poetry Day.”

Through participation, young people will develop the confidence, skills and creative acumen to write and perform their own spoken word poetry, showcased at over 180 school slam events, 15 major regional spoken word events (celebrating World Poetry Day) while becoming published in annual SPOKEN WORD POWER anthologies.

Matilda Thaddeus-Johns, Eastside Schools Programme Manager said: “We are excited by the potential of this project, and would like to encourage as many schools as possible to engage with our free classroom resources online to get their pupils writing and performing their very own original spoken word poetry.

“This year’s theme is Speaking My Truth and Eastside’s experience of running poetry programmes for schools has demonstrated just how effective spoken word poetry is in enabling young people to find their voice whilst accessing the English curriculum in new and exciting ways.”

By first providing young people with the support to create and perform their own spoken word poetry, then supporting schools to provide a platform to showcase their work, SPOKEN WORD POWER will engage a whole new generation of primary and secondary school students with the spoken word.

Find out more https://www.eastside.org.uk/eastside_programmes/spoken-word-power

World Poetry day is on 21 March https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldpoetryday