Michael Rosen launches e-safe children’s poetry site

From left to right : Sasha Hoare, Perform-a-Poem project manager for Booktrust; Gemma Clark, Teacher at Tidemill Primary School; Michael Rosen, the inspiration behind the project; David Mason, LGfL Perform-a-Poem project manager

Perform-a-Poem is a unique poetry website, launched this week by Michael Rosen, allows children in London to write, choose, perform, film and edit poems.

The site, www.performapoem.lgfl.net, a joint project between Michael Rosen, Booktrust and the London Grid for Learning (LGfL), will allow teachers with an LGfL username to upload videos of children’s poetry performances, following national standards on e-safety procedures. Videos are tagged with a child’s first name and borough only and teachers can filter out unsuitable content. The children’s performances can be browsed and enjoyed by children in other schools, as well as families and friends, and can be searched by the title or topic of poem, or the name of the borough.

The site also contains extensive resources for teachers, from other teachers and experts, on writing poems, choosing poems to perform and tips on filming, editing, uploading and performance skills. In addition to offering links to out-of-copyright poems, the website includes the Perform-a-Poem Library containing work by some of the best-loved contemporary children’s poets including Roger McGough, Francesca Beard, Brian Patten and Michael Rosen. New poems will be added to the library on a regular basis.

Michael Rosen said: “I’m hoping that Perform-a-Poem will give an opportunity for children and teachers to experiment and play with poetry in an exciting way. All poems have a voice; sometimes this voice is best heard silently, but most poems enjoy being spoken and performed, because this is how we get to feel a poem.”

Perform-a-Poem supports delivery of the creative curriculum and is available to be hosted by other learning grids across the UK. Learning grids can contact Booktrust for further information about this. Viv Bird, Chief Executive Officer at Booktrust, said: “The new Perform-a-Poem website, inspired by Michael Rosen while he was the Children’s Laureate, will provide hours of fun for children and families in London. Booktrust is pleased to work with the London Grid for Learning to pilot this innovative approach to poetry teaching and appreciation, and we hope that other Learning Grids across the country will be able to take up the idea and develop their own Perform-a-Poem websites.”