PUPILS at Stourport Primary Academy took part in the largest poetry lesson to earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records, writes Surinder Uppal.
Elise Alexander and Federico Hudson from year 4 were among 43,516 children joining the ‘largest ever poetry lesson’ on Zoom and YouTube Live. They were part of a team of 125,000 children to write a poem called What do You Think Counts?, all organised by poet Laura Mucha to mark National Poetry Day.
The successful world record attempt used strict evidence-based criteria.
Claudia Hopkirk, assistant headteacher and English co-ordinator, said, “Taking part in such a massive event was very exciting and our children are absolutely thrilled to be world record breakers.”
To write the poem, children shared their ideas and voted on which lines they wanted to include in the seven verses from: “I’m counting how many licks to finish a lollipop” to “I’m counting on the people in power to protect the planet.”
Ms Hopkirk said, “They loved contributing to the poem and the experience has filled them with enthusiasm for writing and reading poetry.”
Visit the Online Children’s Poetry Archive to read the poem or listen to it being read.
And click the video below to hear about how the record was broken.
