Manchester school pupils win prestigious national poetry award
Video report by Granada Reports correspondent Jennifer Buck
Fresh from their poetry triumph at the National Theatre in London, pupils from St. Margaret Mary's RC Primary School have been showing Granada Reports their wordplay skills.
Their performance clinched them the CLiPPA (CLPE Children’s Poetry Award) poetry award Shadowing competition.
Children across the country were asked to choose their favourite poem, learn it off by heart and perform it aloud.
Cerys, Jimmy-Dean, Tam, Scarlett, Joseph, India, Izore, Willow, Leo, Josiah, Alex and Frankie in year ten chose the poem ‘I Hope It Rains Today’ from Matt Goodfellow’s collection 'Let’s Chase Stars Together'.
Born in Withington and now based in Cheadle, the former teacher has been shortlisted for the CLiPPA four times.
On Monday the children and their teacher Angela Murphy were on the Lyttleton Stage at the National Theatre to perform the poem, alongside the poets shortlisted for the CLiPPA including Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and Matt Goodfellow himself.
Their performance was watched by an audience of 800 people, and countless pupils across the country via livestream.
And according to Miss Murphy the poem struck a definite chord with the children.
Charlotte Hacking of CLPE says: "We received a record number of entries this year – well over 200 – so the children have done very well indeed.
"Their performance is beautifully timed and they really inhabit the poem as they speak it. Congratulations!"
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