What a superb way to use the talents of our huge online poetry community! Brennan, Charlotte and Kinny (pictured with Stephen Mellor) of Kingsland Special School  are looking for poems suitable for a small group of 10-year-old pupils to hang on their poet tree, created by teaching assistant Jacquie Thornton and her colleague Hilary. This wonderful idea came to Jacquie on her way home from a Marsden Write Out Loud session, to use poetry as part of a communication group to help pupils gain experience of speaking and listening. Poems should be simple and accessible enough for pupils with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties. For example:

My Dad

I went to see a Rugby match
They threw a ball for my Dad to catch

My Dad he ran and chased that ball
That ball wasn't even round at all

They shouted things he had to do
You wouldn't believe the air was blue
 
My Dad he ran up and down the grass
With that ball to make a pass

They kicked that ball high into the air
Missed the goal and made the crowd swear

My Dad he grabbed that ball and ran
He gave it to his biggest fan
Thanks Dad!

Opened in September 2002, Kingsland School has up to 70 places for pupils aged between two and 11 and is Wakefield’s only primary day community special school.

As well as poems for the tree, Jacquie has invited local writers in to talk to the group. This has been so successful that she is hoping others might follow suit, the sessions being on Thursday mornings from 9.30 till 10.30.

You’d be following in the footsteps of Write Out Loud poet, Stephen Mellor, who has already delighted the pupils with his work. He offers this advice: The young people apparently find it difficult to talk outside the classroom, so all Jacquie was really wanting from me were poems that would encourage them to speak.

This being a national website, you might not be close enough to Wakefield to be able to help Jacquie, so I wonder if readers might know of other, similar schools in their area where they could offer their services? If so, if you find out the contact details for us, we would be happy to contact them ourselves and let them know of Jacquie’s work with a view to creating something similar in other parts of the country. If it helps.

So, if you fancy sending Jacquie a poem, you can do so via kingwilliam@kingsland.wakefield.sch.uk

Thanks for your anticipated help with this.