Children's Poetry Summit

Two years ago the National Poetry Library and Schools Team at Southbank Centre had an away day, and one of our aims was to create a new resource for our primary schools in the Poetry Library for Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary. Unexpectedly, after consulting teachers and working with Matthew Courtney at the Wandle Learning Partnership, what we thought was going to be ...

I read poems by other people and can readily make suggestions for changes, signal preferences and appreciate what’s working well. If asked for my favourites, I have no hesitation in responding with reasons. But not so with my own poems. I struggle to look at the poems I’ve written with a cool, dispassionate eye.

When it comes to submitting my poems, why do I oft...

Poetry by Heart is a poetry speaking competition for schools and colleges. It’s also a website for teaching and learning about poetry – by heart and out loud, and with plenty of choice for young people to explore poems a...

In the National Literacy Trust’s recently published research, Children and young people’s engagement with poetry in 2026, almost 1 in 5 (19.4%) childr...