🕒 9:10am–9:55am UK time
(45 minutes)
💷 £55
A joyful and gentle introduction to poetry for younger learners. Students will explore rhyme, rhythm and sound, hear a live reading of Bears Don’t Get Scared by Bloomsbury author Mark Grist, and create a kennings poem about his dog, Delilah. Delilah will even join us in the session to help us generate ideas.
They will then write short poems about themselves — building confidence, unlocking playful language, and celebrating how we can work well together in the classroom.
Key Stage 1 - Playing With Words
🕒 2pm–2:55pm UK time
(55 minutes)
💷 £65
A fun, fast-paced poetry session all about metaphor and imagination. Mark will perform a new poem about language and what he thinks about when he writes. Then he’ll lead your students through a journey where they explore four types of metaphors as they construct their own unique and playful poems.
Students will create bold comparisons, learn the importance of writing with originality and avoiding cliché, and go on to craft poems that burst with creative energy. Ticketholders also gain access to the live poetry performance for KS2/3.
Key Stage 2 - Metaphor Mischief
🕒 11.20am–12:15pm UK time
(55 minutes)
💷 £65
This energetic, thought-provoking workshop explores how language can challenge ideas and break down barriers. Mark will perform a rap about playing board games and card games (with a little competition for all classes to take part in).
Then students will experiment with poetic structure, metaphor, and persuasive voice to craft bold pieces of writing that celebrate the people, places, and activities we turn to when we need to recover.Ticketholders also gain access to the live poetry performance for KS2/3.
Key Stage 3 - The Escape Plan
FREE
NATIONAL POETRY DAY PERFORMANCE FOR KEY STAGE 2 & KEY STAGE 3 TICKET HOLDERS
During this special live session, Mark will perform poems and raps inspired by this year’s National Poetry Day theme: Play. Aimed at Years 5–8, the performance will include age-appropriate material and feature a live Q&A, where Mark will answer questions submitted by teachers and class groups via the chat thread.
We’re offering this free performance to all primary and secondary school teachers who book a workshop, so you can bring larger groups together to enjoy a session with a published poet — whilst recommending you keep our paid workshops for class-sized groups.
Every school that books a KS2 or KS3 workshop ticket will receive free access to the live-streamed poetry performance - you’re welcome to share this across as many classrooms as you like in the school.
“The Writing’s so sharp...absolutely priceless.”
“A man precision-built to reach out to a live audience”