On Thursday 20th April, performance poet Paul Cookson came to work with all the children at St Mary’s First School. Paul has a vast experience of leading workshops with all age groups and abilities and firmly believes that everyone can write poems. Paul led a whole school poetry performance at St Mary’s First school where his lively and extremely funny presentation had the children and teachers in stitches. Audience participation was non-negotiable and there was some hilarious musical accompaniment with Paul’s ukulele!
With over sixty titles to his name, Paul has sold well over three quarters of a million books and his poems appear in over two hundred other books. He is the official Poet in Residence for the National Football Museum, and he has worked as the poet for the Everton Collection at the Liverpool Library.
Paul followed his presentation with workshops in each class, where he engaged all children and showed them how they too could write poems. He signed his books after school, and parents had the opportunity to meet him too. Paul’s time with the children will be memorable and has provided inspiration for all the children at St Mary’s. His poem “Let no-one steal your dreams” has been adopted by numerous schools, including St Mary’s, as their school leaver’s poem.