More than 25,000 primary school children across England and Wales have penned a poem for the second annual Premier League Writing Stars poetry competition. Themed on diversity, the competition encouraged five to eleven-year-olds to explore what makes us ‘Beautifully different, Wonderfully the Same’ using a poem created especially for Writing Stars by poet Joseph Coelho.
My Different Friend
The winning poem ‘My different friend’ by Class 1 at Deeping St James CP School was selected as the winning entry for the East of England region in the Key Stage 1 age group (five to six years old).
The Judging Panel
Judging was completed by a stellar panel, which included Waterstones Children’s Laureate Lauren Child, former Premier League footballer Rio Ferdinand, singer-songwriter Olly Murs and poet Joseph Coelho. All poems were judged on a range of criteria including creativity, tone and originality. The panel selected the two national winners, as well as 10 regional winners across Key Stage 1 (five to seven-year-olds) and Key Stage 2 (eight to eleven-year-olds).
Commenting on Class 1’s poem, Lauren Child said: “I loved this poem as it sounded like a really fun, joyful, playground chant and that particularly appealed to us [the judging panel].”
Premier League Primary Stars Education Programme
The competition was supported by the National Literacy Trust and is part of the Premier League Primary Stars education programme, which uses the appeal of the Premier League and professional football clubs to inspire children to learn, be active and develop important life skills. Since its launch in 2017, more than 16,000 primary schools and 37,000 teachers across England and Wales.
Writing Stars Poetry Book
The national and regional winning poems will now be published in a special Writing Stars poetry book due to be released and distributed to schools in May.
Praise from the Judges
Rio Ferdinand said: “We were sitting there saying, ‘Are these kids really this age, writing this?’ Some of the vocabulary, the language, the ideas and the way the poems took shape … it seemed more like university students!
“Congratulations to all the kids who took part because it has been a really difficult task going through all the entries and finding the winner. We could have picked so many.”
Singer-songwriter Olly Murs added: “I was so impressed by the Premier League Writing Stars entries. It’s the first time I’ve been involved so I didn’t really know what to expect but wow… they exceeded my expectations.”
“The quality of the writing is amazing. It’s incredible to see children using poetry and their imagination to put their feelings about diversity on paper.”
Waterstones Children’s Laureate Lauren Child, said: “I think poetry is one of the most powerful ways to communicate and express how you’re feeling inside. By having the football community value the importance of reading and writing, it speaks to children who may not have written a poem before.”
Visit www.plprimarystars.com to find out how your school can be involved with Premier League Primary Stars and for the latest exciting curriculum-linked resources across maths, literacy and PSHE.
My different friend
It is ok to play with different people said Millie,
Be kind, no name calling, let them join in,
Let’s talk about things.
Speak up, Stop it, I don’t like that.
Let’s just play together,
Let’s just get along,
I’ll help you up now you have got hurt.
We are excited again,
We are just the same,
We smile, we laugh (she giggles)
I beam; we are just the same.
By Year 1, aged 5 and 6
Deeping St James C.P. School
I would have LOVED a contest like this when I was that age! I do like the comments from Rio! Great that he took the time to get involved!
I know me too!!! It’s great that celebrities are getting involved to inspire young children because they really do look up to them.
That is so cool, well done them!!
Thank you, Albie was so excited he told me they had won the best Xmas Panto 😀
I just love to see schools encouraged to partake in poetry competitions. I used to love writing poetry and my daughter also had a poem of her’s featured in a school poetry book. Well done Deeping St James
Aw that’s brilliant, it’s such a special achievement for them x
What a lovely competition, wish there were more things like this when I was at school (especially as someone not sporty, a nice way to get everyone involved)
Exactly that, not everyone is sporty or musical. It’s lovely to give other children a chance to shine x
It’s so nice to see schools getting involved in something like this. I wish my school had done when I was there.
I love that our children had the opportunity to take part in such a great competition and so proud that they won x
What a fantastic poem with a great message. I would have loved to enter this as a child.
They did a really good job bless them, especially for their age.
What a great initiative! Good to get the kids in creative writing so early. I love the winning poem!!
It’s a brilliant competition and the children really loved getting involved, let alone winning it 🙂
This is amazing!! What a fab idea and a great poetry competition to be part of xx
I’m so proud of them, they worked hard and are so excited x
That poem is incredible! I can’t relieve children the same age as my eldest wrote it! I’m not surprised it won, it’s brilliant xx
It’s lovely, isn’t it? Their teacher did a brainstorming session with them where they each explained what it means to be the same but different, she wrote their answers down on pieces of paper and then they moved them into order to create the poem.