This is a guide for teachers on how to support children to write and perform poems that matter to them - it shares creative ways to harness the classroom potential of the ‘Kids’ Poems and Stories with Michael Rosen’ YouTube channel. It is a practical and supportive handbook, put together by a practising teacher, and it suggests some ways that fellow teachers can create enriching writing communities with and for their students.

Jonny Walker is a primary school teacher based in Newham, East London. He runs poetry and creative writing projects which connect pupils and teachers across local groups of collaborative schools - these include residential poetry retreats, KS2/3 children’s writing networks, and initiatives to promote the teaching of mythology and classics in the primary school.

Michael Rosen is a poet, broadcaster, novelist and non-fiction author. He has run poetry workshops for children for over 40 years, and was Children’s Laureate from 2007-2009. He is Professor of Children’s Literature, at Goldsmiths, University of London where he teaches critical approaches to children’s books and supervises students’ projects on encouraging reading and writing.