Poetry workshop

We arrived at Reading Blue Coat excited and happy, and even managed to see some Rupert House alumni on our journey through the school to the workshop! 

The children were introduced to poet Matt Goodfellow, who used to be a primary school teacher but left teaching to follow his dreams of writing poetry full-time. Matt talked to the children about what inspires him to write, his childhood and his hometown of Manchester before talking about his new book “The Final Year”. This book is a selection of poems that document a child’s final year in primary school, and each child at Rupert House was given their very own copy to take home. 

After discussing poetry and how we might gather ideas for a poem, the children were challenged to write their own. They could choose to use the given formula or take it off in a completely different direction, which many of them chose to do! The children at RHS were so confident and eloquent, with many children volunteering to read their poems and ask sensible questions to Matt.  

After a delicious packed lunch provided by Reading Blue Coat, the children piled back into their minibuses. Some children were so inspired they even decided to think of new poetry ideas on the journey back to school!