IN PICTURES: Here's 17 photos of Scarborough School children performing poetry at special event

Students from five local schools celebrated World Poetry Day this year with an interschool poetry celebration at Scarborough Spa. 33 poems were performed by a chosen few, who took to the stage in the Spa's Grand Hall.

The children wrote around the theme ‘Hear My Voice’ exploring what it means to be listened to, what it means to listen, and why they want to be heard. They performed in front of special guests including Charter Mayor of Scarborough, Councillor John Ritchie and local artists and poets Charles Rigby and James Koppert, who also shared some of their work.

The event marked the culmination of a programme of in-school spoken word workshops delivered by local artists Charlotte Oliver and Jayne Shipley. Spoken Word Power workshops aimed to help children find their voice and develop the confidence to talk about the things that matter to them.

The workshops focused on poetry as a platform to explore the issues facing the children’s communities, their generation, and their wider world, whilst empowering them to take ownership of the conversation. Spoken Word Power was created by Eastside Educational Trust and delivered on the Yorkshire Coast by the National Literacy Trust in partnership with ARCADE.

This work is needed more than ever with research from the National Literacy Trust in 2023 showing that children’s writing was at crisis point with only 1 in 3 children reporting that they enjoy writing in their free time. Previous research from the charity found a clear link between writing for enjoyment and writing attainment, with children who enjoy writing “very much” seven times more likely to write above the expected level.

Helen Williams, Manager for the National Literacy Trust on the Yorkshire Coast, said: “Throughout the Spoken Word Power workshops, we have seen the children’s confidence grow in writing their own poems about meaningful topics for them and their communities. We have seen children who started the project completely uninterested in writing, end up wanting to be first on stage at our poetry slams. The knock-on effects of this work could see those children developing a love of writing which helps them to gain the literacy skills they need to succeed in life.”

Emily Leeson, Administrator and Producing Assistant at ARCADE, said: “This has been an amazing project to be a part of. Seeing students grow in confidence with their writing and having fun while doing it has been a real privilege to witness. It's proven that creativity can be found in everyone, even if some students didn't quite believe it at first! ARCADE are thrilled to be working with the National Literacy Trust to make brilliant creative things happen together.”