Jason Heppenstall children's poetry. Poems for teachers.

Poetry in Performance

At the age of 8 I attended 1:1 Speech & Drama lessons, with the most inpiring teacher. On my first lesson he sat me down and gave me a poem to read. The poem was ‘My obnoxious brother Bobby’ by Colin West. I still remember this poem perfectly to this day, circa 40 years later, gulp!!!.... The buzz of standing in front of an audience reading it aloud wa feeling I’ve never forgotten.

I offer regular PPA cover and one off full day poetry (with performance)

By booking a poetry in performance visit at your school, I will inspire your pupils through performance and workshops, giving them an experience that they too will remember for years to come.

Please reach me on jason@theprimaryschoolpoet.co.uk if you cannot find the answer to your question.

Jason Heppenstall

With over 25 years of experience in acting, writing and working with Primary Schools, you are in safe hands when booking a visit.

Professional Actor (TV, Westend, UK tours, Voice Acting)
Qualified teacher of Speech and Drama (Licentiate)
Published Poet (check out some of my recent work published on the wonderful Dirigible Balloon, you can also pre-order my forthcoming collection of children's poetry ‘Brain Spaghetti!’)
20 years experience of delivering workshops in primary schools.

The Poet

I have written countless children’s poems and have had many published. Check out my most recent ‘Miss Lavender our class T.A’ on the wonderful Dirigible Balloon. I am just in the process of completing my first collection of poems ‘Brain Spaghetti’ which will be available to buy in 2025.

The Actor

I trained at the prestigious Guildford School of Acting and have been lucky enough to have worked in most genres of the profession: West-End Musical Theatre, UK tours, London Fringe, Television, Commercials, Pantomime, Music videos and Voice Acting.

The Educator

I hold a Licentiate in teaching Speech and Drama (New Era Academy) annd have over 20 years experience working with primary schools. I am also Principal and founder of a thriving children’s theatre school, since 2004.

A poetry performance day at your school

A poetry visit can be tailored to suit your needs, but a typical day starts with:

The day begins with a performance to your entire school. The performance is lively, interactive and great fun. I include music, song, rap and rhythm. At the end of the performance I set a writing task for each class to complete during the day.

Whilst the children are busy writing poems in their classrooms I run “poetry in performance” workshops with class groups. The workshops are drama based, teaching the pupils how to lift the words off the page in an expressive and imaginative way. The length of these sessions depend on how many classes you’d like me to work with. I would advise that each session be no less than 30 mins. An ideal session would be 50 mins/ 1hr. It is advisable for larger schools to run these sessions over two days.

Its nice to come back together at the end of the day and have some of the children read their poems to the school.

I usually end the session with a short Q&A.

Costs

Prices vary depending on your location, so please contact me for a tailored price.

What the schools and pupils are saying

I was really nervous before I performed my poem at the end of the day, but I really enjoyed doing it. The day was lots of fun!

Ethan - Year 5 pupil

Jason is fantastic at engaging the children in fun, active exercises that build their imagination and help them to use their group work and talk skills effectively. The children always love these workshops and enjoy the opportunity to perform in front of their peers.

Thomas A Beckett Junior School - Worthing (Teacher)

I wrote a poem about my Grandma and I can't wait to read it to her when I get home.

Amelia - year 2 pupil