Children’s Poet Brings Words to Life at Hallam Fields

Attie kicked things off with a whole-school assembly for Years 1 to 6, where she introduced herself and shared her journey as a published poet. Pupils were thrilled to get a sneak peek at her upcoming book A Welly Full of Christmas, due out at the end of October, and even more excited to learn they were one of the first schools to see a physical copy.

The assembly was packed with interactive fun. Attie read aloud some of her poems and encouraged pupils to join in. She tested their knowledge of opposites with contrasting actions and shared a wonderfully weird poem about eating cornflakes with gravy.

One of the highlights was a paper-aeroplane activity. Each plane carried a statement about poetry, which Attie launched into the crowd. Whoever caught a plane read the statement aloud, and the group decided whether it was true or false. Pupils discovered that poems don’t always have to rhyme and that writing is often better when shared. Those who caught a plane even received special prizes from Attie herself.

The excitement continued in a series of writing workshops. Pupils warmed up with movement before diving into imaginative tasks. One challenge asked them to dream up extravagant ways to arrive at school — from surfing down volcanoes on diamond boards to swimming through rivers of candyfloss.

Later, they worked in teams to come up with creative ways to defeat a dragon, using two random objects as inspiration. Ideas included baking a black hole cake, launching a toy train at the dragon or attacking it with a wooden spoon.

Attie spent the rest of the day visiting classrooms and inspiring pupils to think creatively, work together and have fun with words.

It was a day filled with rhythm, rhyme and imagination — one we won’t forget in a hurry.