On Sunday 18 and Monday 19 July over 300 students, parents, teachers and guests took part in the 2021 Poetry By Heart finalists’ celebration event at Shakespeare’s Globe, London. Children and young people aged seven to 19 from all over England performed 180 pages of poems on the main stage.

Poets Daljit Nagra, Jean Sprackland, Valerie Bloom, Patience Agbabi and Glyn Maxwell judged 10 finalists in each Key Stage Classic category (Key Stages 2 to 5, learning two poems) and then 10 more in a special one-poem Celebration category.  The 2021 national champions were:

 

Classic Key Stage 2 - Romy - Beachborough School, Northamptonshire

Classic Key Stage 3 – Jonathan – Silverdale School, Sheffield

Classic Key Stage 4 – Elise – Rugby High School, West Midlands

Classic Key Stage 5 – Michael – Aylesbury Grammar School

Celebration – Indigo – Huntington Community Primary School, Cheshire

 

The other 2021 national champion in their special category was (Teacher Celebration) Debra – St Francis College.

 

Two special awards were presented to:

Sarah Leech, Oliver Lomax and Unsworth Academy, Bury, for outstanding work to create a video poem with students who were particularly hard hit by the effects of Covid-19 and multiple successive lockdowns in their area

Natasha Sivadasan – Lister Community School, Newham, east London – for outstanding community engagement in holding a Poetry By Heart showcase event for primary and secondary schools across the borough.