On Thursday 3rd October, Year 7 had the very exciting opportunity to take part in a live online Poetry Workshop with poet Laura Mucha with the aim of achieving a Guinness World Record for the ‘Largest Ever Multi-Venue Poetry Lesson’

Year 7 spent some time in English lessons beforehand reflecting on responses to the question ‘What Counts?’ and they generated a wonderful variety of ideas (see a sample of their responses below). During the workshop, we then joined almost 150,000 students from over 1,000 schools to co-write the final poem with Laura - it was such a fun-filled hour filled with collaboration, creativity, and laughter. Students were especially pleased with our winning votes for ‘axolotl’ and ‘Bob’ that found their way into the third verse!

The Guinness World Record committee are in the process of verifying whether or not the record was achieved – watch this space! In the meantime, keep an eye out for our Certificate of Participation, which should be on display shortly after half-term.

BBC News article: National Poetry Day world record attempt made by 270,000 children - BBC News

Final poem: What Do You Think Counts? - The Children’s Poetry Archive

Interview with the poet: An Interview with Laura Mucha - The Children’s Poetry Archive

Year 7s responses to “What Do You Think Counts?”

Friends. Family. Community. The planet.  The environment. Animals. Wildlife. Being loved. Knowing that you are loved. Knowing how to love. Expressing yourself. Taylor Swift. Being kind. Personality. Having a safe home. Food. Staying healthy. Working hard. Having fun. Happiness. Pandas. Religion. Empathy. Treating everyone equally. Anti-racism. Appreciating what you have. Having a place in the world. Seeing the ability, not the disability. Education. Communication. Pets. Reading and imagination. Creativity. Music. Drawing. Sleep. Achieving your goals. Believing in yourself. Loyalty. Honesty. Showing your emotions. Following your dreams.