What is Spoken Word Power?
SPOKEN WORD POWER is a new, fully funded creative project supporting Primary, Secondary and SEND schools, as well as other educational institutions across the nation to creatively champion the spoken word, nurturing positive attitudes to language and learning and providing a platform for the vibrant voices of a new generation of young people.
The project makes language exciting, inclusive and fun, and develops oracy, speaking & listening, and writing skills, injecting joy into school life.
SPOKEN WORD POWER embeds spoken word poetry teaching, practice, writing and performance skills into the nation’s school life, and will inspire at least 20,000 young people over 3 years. Through participation, young people will develop the confidence, skills and creative know-how to write and perform their own spoken word poetry, showcasing their work at over 180 school slam events and at 15 major regional spoken word events (celebrating World Poetry Day), while becoming published in annual SPOKEN WORD POWER anthologies.
This year’s theme is...
Speaking Your Truth
GET INVOLVED!
SPOKEN WORD POWER: OPEN CALL
Click here to participate with your class
Simply download a free Speaking My Truth lesson plan and use accompanying videos, to get your class developing their very own spoken word poetry, then use our Teacher Guides to help you put on your very own School Poetry Slam.
All participating institutions are invited to send us one poem to represent their school, to be featured in our published Poetry Anthology and featured on our World Poetry Day digital celebration.
Any educational institution working with students aged up to 18 is eligible to participate in this programme.
POET EDUCATOR VISITS
Is your school outside these regions? Get involved in SPOKEN WORD POWER: OPEN CALL 👆 from anywhere in the UK.
HOW DO OUR POET EDUCATOR VISITS WORK?
Work with us for two years to embed spoken word poetry within the heart of your school. Students will work with a trained local Poet Educator to develop their very own pieces of spoken word poetry to perform in your School Poetry Slam to an audience of peers, families and teachers. Each participating class nominates one class poet (or team of poets) to represent them at a celebratory inter-school World Poetry Day celebration in a selected performance venue near you. You will also receive a high-quality teacher CPD workshop, and teaching resources to support your staff.
In year two, you will take everything you’ve learnt to run your School Poetry Slam independently and embed this in the school calendar for years to come.
Project trailer
See what the project is all about and meet our Poetess Ambassador Jess in our Spoken Word Power Trailer below.
DELIVERY PARTNERS
We are currently recruiting for partners to deliver SPOKEN WORD POWER in their region. Apply here.
Current delivery partners
Grimm & Co – South Yorkshire
Grimm & Co is a registered literacy charity in Rotherham which champions the writer in every child, changing lives one story at a time. We deliver workshops for children, young people and families, as well as running creative programmes with schools and in the wider community.
- Email: gemma.thornton@grimmandco.co.uk
- Phone: 01709 829 750
Writing on the Wall – Merseyside
Description: Writing on the Wall is Liverpool’s longest-running writing and literary organisation and festival. We celebrate and inspire creativity and writing in all its forms through inquiry, debate, performance and publishing. Our annual WoWFest brings together local audiences with the best local, national and international writers, artists and social commentators.
- Email: emma@writingonthewall.org.uk
- Phone: 0151 703 0020
Essex Book Festival – Essex
Description: Essex Book Festival is a multi-discipline dynamic, fun and challenging festival that celebrates storytelling in all its forms. Taking place in over forty venues across Essex from Martello Towers to Tudor Palaces, Lecture Halls to Lightships, Castles to Classrooms, it welcomes people from all ages and communities to get reading, writing, and performing, while also savouring the delights of some of the UK’s leading artists and writers.
- Email: ros@essexbookfestival.org.uk
- Phone: +44 (0) 7913 061948
Greater London – Eastside
Eastside is an arts charity, based in Hackney, that exists to help young people develop their creative thinking so that they are able to become the problem-solvers of tomorrow, empowered to build a better society. We achieve this by engaging children and young people through direct participation in the arts, enabling them to work with professional artists and creative practitioners.
- Email: schools@eastside.org.uk
- Phone: 020 7033 238
